


The Order Of The Brotherhood

by BrotherMeB (DarkMeB)



Series: The Brotherhood of the Triumvirate [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-29
Updated: 2011-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-15 05:31:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMeB/pseuds/BrotherMeB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an Original story.  A remake of this story is in the works.  I have decided to post the original so I don't lose it.</p><p>Spoiler: This takes place during Season 1 in "Welcome To The Hellmouth" & "The Harvest." It is the First in The Brotherhood Series. There is no AU in the first book.</p><p>Pairing: There are no pairings in TOOTB. However, events in the the first part lead up to Willow/Other (In Book Two-Brothers), Willow/Oz, and finally to the way it should be...Willow/Xander (Book Three-Untitled).</p><p>Summary: Willow Rosenberg has been chosen by the Brotherhood, but the purpose has not yet been revealed. While Willow struggles to keep the secret to herself to save her friends, she is concerned that she will lose a friend in the new girl, Buffy Summers.</p><p>Disclaimer: All characters of Buffy tVS are the property of Joss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Father

Somewhere in the desert, there was a very old castle that was strangely out of place. The castle could have been from another time or another dimension. In spite of that, it existed there-in the desert-for hundreds of years, perhaps more, undisturbed by time and civilization. There wasn't anything known about its' history for the world's historians did not know about its existence. The world itself was completely unaware of the castle in the desert...and there was a reason for that.

Something was protecting the castle.

Something evil.

The castle was a large, circular construction of wood and stone. Four high towers gave odd corners to the Keep, and upon each of these towers was an orb of great power. These orbs omitted powerful illusions over the castle, keeping it free from discovery. In the centuries since its' creation, only a few have stumbled upon the existence of the castle, and then they had died horrible deaths, screaming out in agony where their screams were not heard by the outside world. The illusion around the castle was so powerful that even a pilot of a privately owned helicopter had not seen the castle walls looming before him even as he struck the walls. The wreckage was still there, spread out on the desert floor at the base of the castle. The wreckage of the helicopter was now a part of the illusion and the pilot had long since been devoured by the creatures of the desert, his lifeless skeleton now the only reminder that he ever truly existed at all. In time, the desert itself would swallow up the remains until there was no longer a single trace that an accident ever occurred.

The courtyard in the center of the castle was as the eye of a hurricane. Surrounded by desert, life blossomed within the courtyard. There were many beautiful gardens where a variety of plant life sprang forth from the ground, and a variety of fruits and vegetables grew in plentiful amounts.

At the very center of the courtyard was a large water fountain with a statue of a man wearing a robe, standing tall. The man was elderly and yet the statue depicted a man of great strength and power. The eyes revealed a keen intellect and confidence. In the statue's right hand was a book and around his neck was an amulet. Around the statue, water surrounded the base, and a waterfall pooled out over his feet to spill into the water below.

In the courtyard, there was also a great deal of activity. There were several groups split into teams of thirteen. Each group was involved with its' own task. Three of the groups were tending to the gardens. One group was spread out on the lawn with the hoods of their robes up over their heads, meditating to themselves. Another group was listening to its' Elder as he expounded truths on the Way of Life as a Brother. Another group, farther away from the others, were practicing the martial arts of hand-to-hand combat.

The members of each group were dressed in robes. Brothers and Initiates wore robes of dark brown. Elders wore robes of red.

Three young men walked across the courtyard. They were the only ones who were not wearing robes. They wore black sneakers, jeans, and t-shirts. The only similarities the three teenagers shared was a symbol of a burning sun tattooed on their right forearms, and on the backs of their right hands. The young man in the center of the trio also had the burning star tattoo on the back of his neck, unlike his two companions. He was leading the other two to the main entrance of the Grand Hall where the Brothers often heard the Word of the Father.

They went through the Grand Hall, and then they passed through a doorway at the rear of the Grand Hall. They entered into a corridor, and they followed it to a set of stone stairs that wound its' way upward and downward into one of the towers. They followed the circular stairs up and stopped at a door halfway up the tower. The stairs continued to go up, but the young teenager with the burning sun on the back of his neck wanted to gain entrance into the chamber beyond the door. His face revealed his determination to go forward. It also revealed his anticipation of what was yet to come.

Virgil Paige believed with all of his heart that he did not deserve this reward. This privilege. This highest honor...but he accepted it and he fully intended to make the Father proud of him at all cost. He had worked long and hard to rise from Initiate to Brother, and then to Elder, but he had finally achieved that which he sought. He had risen among the ranks faster than any Elder in the Brotherhood with the exception of one other, and because of his accomplishments, the Father had made it known to him that he was watching him.

The Father was proud of Paige.

The Father was indeed so proud that he himself had personally chosen the Brothers Jeremy Randall and Garth Talbot to be Paige's personal watch dogs. They would help Paige accomplish what needed to be done, and they would give their own lives for him if that was the Elder's wish.

Paige stood before the large door, raised a fist, and he prepared to knock. His fist never touched the door.

"Come!" said a commanding voice from beyond the door.

Paige opened the door and he stepped into the Father's chamber. The Brother's followed behind and they kept at a respectful distance. They were aware the Father could choose not to acknowledge them at all as was his right. For them, however, it was enough just to be near him and witness his power and work personally. It was simply enough for they knew they were carrying out his purpose.

The Father was a powerful man and he had walked the earth for thousands of years. He had gone by many names and his real name was known only by a mere few. Four hundred years ago, he had founded and created the Order of the Brotherhood with the help from a trusted friend, and now he was known simply as the Father.

The Father was standing at the window of his personal chamber and he was gazing thoughtfully out at the desert beyond the castle walls. He had a wine goblet in one hand as he was contemplating the future of mankind. When he heard the Elder and the Brothers enter into his chamber, he turned to face Paige with a smile reserved for a favorite son.

"And so..." the Father raised his wine goblet in a toast, "it begins, my son."

Paige bowed respectfully before him. "As you command, Father."

The Father smiled proudly as he gazed fondly at Paige. He completely ignored the Brothers. It was as if they didn't even exist. "Virgil, my son...you have exceeded my greatest expectations of you."

"I have only done as you would have me do, Father."

The Father let out a chuckle. "That is a very good response, if not diplomatic at best." He set his wine goblet down onto a coaster, on the surface of his desk, where a lantern was lit. There was a second goblet and a bottle of wine. The Father uncorked the wine and he poured the dark, cool liquid into both goblets. He smiled as he handed one to Paige. "Drink with me, my son. We have so much to discuss, you and I."

Paige took the drink and raised it. "Thank you, Father. To your health."

"And to yours."

They both drank from their wine.

The Brothers stood as still as statues. They had still not been acknowledged by the Father, but that didn't matter to them. They felt nothing but pride as they watched the Father and the new Elder make themselves comfortable in antique chairs beside the window. A round table now separated the two. On the table, there was an antique marble chess board and an orb. The orb was bright red and it rested upon a statue formed into two outstretched hands with their palms revealed. The statue was designed to hold the orb. There was a bright red dot of light in the very center of the orb.

Paige glanced curiously at the orb, but he refrained from asking about it. "What shall we talk about, Father?"

The Father smiled knowingly at him and then he took a sip of his wine. "Oh, my dear, favorite son...what do we always talk about lately?" He raised a hand dramatically into the air. "What has been the most talked about topic amongst the Brotherhood all summer long?"

Paige grinned. "Willow Rosenberg."

"Willow Rosenberg," the Father repeated thoughtfully. He leaned back in his chair and smiled warmly. "Willow Rosenberg. The one that you have been watching for me, and the one who will add another eighty years to my life, once I take what is hers." He stroked his beard and regarded Paige as if he had a secret he wanted to share. "Now, my son...the real purpose for your visit here today is about to be revealed." He waved his hand over the orb. "Do you know what this is?"

"I don't know what it is, Father," Paige responded as he focused his eyes upon the orb. "I only know that it is somehow connected to the ruby you had me drop onto the sidewalk in front of the Rosenberg residence." He looked at the Father expectantly. "You had me do that so Willow would find it."

The Father nodded his head. "And so she did. She placed it in a jewelry box on her dresser in her room."

Paige paused in thought. "The orb allows you to see into her home?"

"To some extent, yes. The ruby helps me utilize the mirrors in her home." He patted the orb on the table. "This is something quite different."

Paige tried not to show his enthusiasm for wanting to know what the orb did. Even so, the Father knew what the Elder was thinking.

The Father chuckled. "You are a strong one, my son. Your mind is sharp. You are almost as strong and sharp as the Prodigal son who left us." A touch of sadness crossed his face.

A look of anger crossed Paige's face. "The Prodigal son has betrayed the Brotherhood, Father," he reminded him carefully. "He has broken the Oath. He is no longer a Brother to us. And if we should meet--"

"You will do him no harm!" the Father snapped harshly. "He may be the Prodigal son, but he is still one of our own! He will return to us one day, and then he'll take his rightful place at my side."

Paige didn't say anything more, but he knew in his heart if it had been any other Elder, Brother, or Initiate who had betrayed the Brotherhood, the guilty would be severely punished right before the sentence of death was carried out. That was the way it had always been. Paige realized that the Prodigal son had a place in the Father's heart. However, even though Paige honored and loved the Father more than life itself, he strongly believed that in this matter where it concerned the Prodigal son, the Father was being ruled by his own emotions. The Prodigal son had once been Paige's best friend, but he was not afraid to deal with him if the time for confrontation ever arrived.

The Father waved a hand through the air as if to dismiss the subject. "Let's not talk about the Prodigal son." He looked at Paige. "You do want to know what this orb does, don't you?"

Paige nodded his head. "Yes, Father. I do."

The Father smiled at him. "It's rather quite simple, my son." He paused for affect as he leaned forward. "It is a Dream Catcher."

A look of understanding flashed across Paige's face. "The ruby we gave her uses magic to capture Willow's dreams," he exclaimed, grinning at the Father in triumph, "and the orb uses its magic to reveal those dreams to you!"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," he raised a hand, "but it does so much more than that."

Paige looked at him in surprise. "What else does it do, Father?"

"It allows me to enter into her dreams as well." He paused for affect. "It also enables me to draw her very essence here."

Paige regarded him for a moment. "Father, if you can bring Willow's essence here, then why don't you do it and simply take her?"

The Father shook his head and smiled wryly. "No, my son. It doesn't work that way as you should know well. I need Willow intact and brought to me when the time is right. I cannot perform the ritual without her. Bringing her essence to me through a dream will not give me what I want. Her essence cannot be taken in this way." He regarded Paige for a moment. "Tonight, you and I will meet Willow in one of her dreams."

"Then we shall both need to sleep in order for us to meet her. The orb will link our dreams together?"

He shook his head and laughed. "No, my son. We won't sleep. Willow will sleep and the dream will bring her essence here. To her, it will all be a dream. To us, we will see her as if she were truly present with us. But I must remind you again, it is only her essence and I cannot take it while she is here. Also, she must never be harmed while she is in the dream. If she is harmed in any way, it could be fatal to her."

Paige sipped thoughtfully from his wine. "Father, shouldn't I be out of sight when she comes? If she sees me, she will recognize me from school. Won't she wonder why I am in her dreams?"

The Father nodded his head. "You are quite right. Willow is a very perceptive young lady. You'll stay at my side and she will never see you." He glanced toward the Brothers who had remained standing in respective silence throughout the visit. "Now, I trust that the Brothers and Initiates in your charge are putting our plan into action."

"Yes, Father. Mr. Chomsky will meet his fate and we'll receive a new teacher to replace him." Paige grinned. "Then we can be free to prepare Willow."

"Just be very careful with her, my son. You can frighten her as much as you like, but you must not harm her."

Paige nodded once. "I understand, Father."

"I know you do. Just be certain that your Initiates understand as well. I know how boys can be." He paused. "Now...your Brother's will return to Sunnydale through the portal so they can supervise the 'accident' meant for your History teacher. The Initiation will begin and your followers will come into the Order of the Brotherhood as they assist you in preparing Willow Rosenberg for the Ritual of Longevity."

Paige raised his wine goblet in respect. "And so it begins, Father..."

The Father smiled warmly. "As I command, my son."


	2. Dream Catcher

The french doors that led out onto the patio from her bedroom were wide open. Willow Rosenberg leaned against the door frame as she gazed thoughtfully up at the stars above. It was getting late and she couldn't sleep. She stood there in her bare feet, wearing a long pullover shirt that stopped just above her knees. She tilted her head against the door frame. The house was silent and a cool breeze caressed her face as it came into her room like an invisible friend offering comfort.

Comfort was what Willow needed. The first three weeks of the tenth grade had started out badly, and with the horrible outfits her mother continued to set out for her, the days ahead could only get worse. Those outfits made her wish she were invisible. There were times she wondered if her parents actually cared for her because, every now and then, they made her feel unimportant. In her heart, she knew that they did love her and she was grateful for them. She simply wished they would pay more attention to her than they did. Both of her parents were career chasers and their jobs kept them extremely busy. Their jobs also required them to take the occasional trip, and sometimes that meant Willow would have the entire house to herself.

When her parents were at home, there were times when they would ask her how her day was, but they didn't really listen to her responses. It was always more like, "Uh huh, that's nice, dear."

Willow had even put her parents to the test several times when they asked her, "How was your day, sweety?"

"I-I made out with a boy un-underneath the bleachers at school," she had once declared. "Uh, h-he was all over me, and-and he did some things, you know, to m-me that-that men usually do to women. You know, uh, like-like squeezing, and-and touching, a-and kissing!"

"Uh huh, that's nice, dear," was the usual response.

She had made several other such outbursts, but the responses were always the same.

"I'm a-a devil child!"

"Uh huh, that's nice, dear."

"I-I dumped the coffee grounds and-and replaced it with dirt!"

"Uh huh, that's nice, dear."

"X-Xander made me, you know, p-pregnant!"

"Uh huh, that's nice, dear."

Willow didn't like to use Xander's name in any of her tests, but sometimes she was just desperate to know if her parents were paying any attention to her. Besides, the idea of Xander getting her pregnant only made her giggle in hysterics. It wasn't as if Xander was ever going to take her by the hand and...Willow blushed furiously - even though she was alone - and took a few deep breaths as she tried to regain her thoughts. She cared deeply for Alexander Lavelle Harris and she cherished his friendship more than anything. Xander was Willow's best friend, yet she did have hope that some day it would become more than that. Unfortunately, she knew he didn't share the same feelings. Even so, to Willow, Xander was the only shining light in her dark little world.

Willow and Xander had a lot in common. They both liked the same kind of ice cream, however, Xander could consume more than she could. They both liked to watch Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer at Christmas time, but she had to watch it at his house because her father didn't let her watch it. One of the biggest things they shared in common was the way their parents treated them. With Willow, it was in their careers that took them away from home and took up much of their time. With Xander, it was alcohol and fights that took his parents time away from him. They would constantly fight and Xander's father would drink until he passed out on the sofa...or on the floor...or at the kitchen table...or on the front porch...or wherever it was convenient at the time for him to pass out. Xander might as well have been somewhere else. They barely noticed him unless he was in the way. So, their parents were not the best in the world, but they were their parents.

That was a small comfort.

Willow thought of Xander, smiled to herself, and said softly, "At least we have each other."

The first three weeks of school had been horrible for her, and with the sunrise in the morning it would be no different. Willow was more than a little anxious about school, especially with the "new" outfit her mom had picked out for her from the mall. At least, she had a few friends she could meet with before the school bell rang -friends who wouldn't laugh at the way her mother dressed her. Someone not very nice, however, was bound to make a comment on her taste in clothes...again. She looked forward to seeing her friends because they were nerds and computer geeks, just like she was, so they were all pretty much in the same boat.

She frowned in thought. She realized that, at least to her, Xander Harris and Jesse McNally were not nerds or computer geeks. Yet, they had been labeled as "losers" because they were her friends. They were all "losers"...Willow, Xander, and Jesse. Her other friends, too. Darren Fuller, Joshua MacDonald, Nicholas Carbone, and Sylvia Landry. They were all "losers", or so they had been told numerous times. "Losers" according to the "winners" of Sunnydale High society kids.

Willow looked up at the stars and wondered what the new day would bring. She heard a rumor that a new girl had moved into town. She had put that rumor to the test by using her genius computer skills to find out just who the new girl was. She didn't tell anyone - not even Xander - she had hacked into the school's files, but because of what she did, she discovered the rumor was true. The new girl's name was Buffy Summers and she had moved to Sunnydale from LA. Willow had decided that Buffy was not only pretty, but because she was coming from LA, she was also probably of the elite, and therefore a "winner". This clearly meant she wouldn't be hanging out with the "losers" of Sunnydale High.

A frown touched Willow's face.

Buffy Summers was more likely to hang out with the likes of Cordelia Chase and Harmony Kendall than with her.

Her thoughts of Xander were interrupted by a yawn. She let out a weary sigh, closed the french doors, and locked them. Then, she climbed into bed. By the time her head was on the pillow, she was fast asleep.

Inside her jewelry box upon her dresser, a red ruby began to glow brightly, and its magic reached out to capture her dreams.

_____ _____ _____

Willow opened her eyes.

High above her, the stars shone brightly. A soft breeze blew gently across her as she sat up in her bed and looked around in wonder. Her bed was in the desert, directly in front of a large Keep. The huge doors were open wide as if to allow her to gain entrance if she so desired.

A smile lit her face.

She did desire to enter the castle. She was aware that she was dreaming. She had been dreaming about the castle in the desert many times, and in those dreams she had explored the great halls by torches and candlelight. She had explored the courtyard, watching what appeared to be monks going about their business. She had tried to speak to them in earlier dreams but since they had never responded, she had decided to leave them alone.

On this night, and in this dream, Willow decided that she was going to explore one of the towers. She followed a set of circular stone stairs to the very bottom and she found herself in a large circular room lit by torches on the wall. She was surrounded by three large doors and, as she looked at the door in front of her, she felt something she couldn't understand.

She felt a powerful force.

She moved slowly toward the door and hesitantly reached for it. Just as her hand gripped the large handle, a voice spoke her name.

"Willow."

She spun around, startled.

Suddenly, she found herself standing in a den. Books lined the shelves along the back wall. A table and two antique chairs were before a window that overlooked the desert. A desk was before her, cluttered with items and books she had never seen before. She could feel power coming from the items and the books on the desk. However, the powerful presence sitting behind the desk was where she found her attention focused, for the man sitting there was her father, Ira Rosenberg.

"Dad?" she inquired hesitantly.

Her father smiled. "How appropriate. Don't you think, Willow?"

She looked puzzled. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"That in your dreams, you would see me as your father. Don't you find that somewhat ironic?"

Willow regarded the personification of her father closely. "Uh, I-I don't understand. If-if you're not my father, then who are you?"

"I am simply Father." He held up a hand to halt her questions. "I am the Founder of a powerful organization, Willow, and I am known as Father to many. I have great power and I offer great rewards to those loyal to me. I have been using powerful magic to capture your dreams and I have brought you here to my home by special invitation."

Willow looked around the den. She didn't see Virgil Paige sitting in front of the window, watching her every move. The power of the Father never ceased to amaze him. He himself had some power, but he didn't believe he could ever be as powerful as the Father.

Willow looked at the Father with a puzzled _expression on her face. "B-but...this is just a-a dream," she said softly. "I-it isn't real."

"Yes, it is."

She shook her head. "No. I-if this were real, y-you wouldn't look like my father." She hesitated. "Dreams are not real."

The Father smiled warmly at her. "This one is real, Willow. You have been dreaming about my home, this castle, for a month now. When you wake up, don't you recall your dreams of this place more clearly and vividly?"

She didn't answer, but the look on her face was answer enough. Finally, she frowned. "W-why haven't I seen you before now?"

The Father paused. "I haven't had visitors here for a long time, Willow. I rather enjoyed watching you make your explorations throughout my home. You did seem to enjoy the tour."

She looked at him. She was at a loss for words as she tried to determine if she were dreaming or if this was real. She still couldn't believe it was real.

The Father seemed to know what she was thinking. "Yes, Willow. Yes. You are correct. This is a dream, but it is also reality."

"Uh, w-why am I here?" Willow asked him as she looked at his face. "I-I mean, it was nice of you to invite me here, and, well, everything, but..." She tried to understand why she saw her father's face. "Well, uh, is th-there a purpose?"

"There is always a purpose," he told her with a nod. He glanced at Paige. He turned to regard her with a fatherly expression on his face. "I wanted to meet you personally. I would like to get to know you...as a father should know his only daughter."

A lot of emotions crossed Willow's face. Hope. Confusion. Fear. For being in a dream, she wondered why she could feel her own heart beat racing rapidly in her chest.

"Th-this really is just a dream," she told herself. "My father doesn't talk to me like this." She looked at him. "Y-you're not real." She closed her eyes.

The Father watched her, amused.

Willow kept her eyes closed tightly shut. After a moment, she slowly opened them. She was still in the den and the man who looked like her father was still standing there, watching her.

"Willow," the Father said gently as he walked around the desk and reached for her hand. "Why don't you sit down?" He led her to a chair in front of the large window. On the table next to her, a red orb rested in a statue shaped like a pair of hands. A chess board was set out with figurines placed upon the antique, marble game board.

From where he sat, Paige looked across the table at Willow and he smiled at her. She didn't see him. He wondered if she would cry out in alarm if he reached over to touch her. He again was astonished of the power the Father possessed. It was an awesome power and Paige was honored to be able to witness it. He and the Father were not asleep, and yet at the Rosenberg Residence in Sunnydale, Willow was sound asleep in her own bed. At the same time, she was also sitting across from him with her pretty little bare feet, and wearing a long pullover shirt. She had no idea he was even present in the room.

Willow looked at the Father as he raised her head by her chin so he could look at her closely. "Is it so wrong of me to want to know you, daughter?" he asked her softly. "I want only for you to be happy."

She hesitated. "Uh, well, I-I want to be happy, too."

"Aren't you?"

Willow opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped. She was surprised to find out that she didn't have an immediate answer. She frowned. Of course, she was happy. She was always happy...wasn't she?

The Father regarded her with parental concern. "Willow, aren't you happy with your life? Isn't there anything that makes you feel alive inside? Something that makes you want the moment to go on forever?"

She looked at him and she realized that she was beginning to feel comfortable with him. It was almost like having a real conversation with her real father. Maybe that's what this dream was all about, she decided. She did want her father to pay attention to her in this way, dream or not.

"Well, uh, th-there is someone I know who-who makes me happy," she said softly as the Father got down on one knee and looked upon her with fatherly affection. "Uh, every time I see him, I-I feel all happy inside, and I feel like-like nothing can ever go wrong. I feel safe. I feel like I'm somebody special."

The Father favored her with a smile. "Who makes you feel like that, daughter?"

She smiled. "Xander."

"Ah. Xander." He nodded his head. "He's been your friend since you were a little girl, hasn't he?"

She smiled wryly and nodded her head. "Xander's always been there for me."

"He is your best friend."

"Yes. He is."

The Father regarded her with a knowing look. "But it's more than that, isn't it, daughter? I can see it in your eyes. You're in love with him."

Willow hesitated. "I-I really care for Xander. I care for him a lot, Dad, but..." she looked at him, "I-I'm not sure if I'm in love with Xander. Well, uh, I mean, I think about him all the time, and-and I want to be with him wherever he is. I..." She stopped. "How do you know what love is?"

"Let me ask you a question, daughter." The Father paused as he watched her closely. "When you are away from him, does it hurt?"

Willow paused in thought, then she nodded her head. "Sometimes, it does hurt inside...w-when I can't be with him."

"Now answer this truthfully, daughter. Does it hurt sometimes, even when you are with him?" His eyes never left her face.

Willow's face betrayed her thoughts. She thought of the times when they were together. Xander treated her like one of the guys, not like a girlfriend. Slowly, she nodded. "Sometimes," she admitted, "i-it does hurt when I'm with Xander."

The Father nodded his head knowingly. "Therein lies your answer, daughter. If you had no love for Xander, you would not be feeling any pain, but because your heart hurts inside you from time to time concerning Xander, this only shows that you do truly love him."

Willow searched his face with her eyes. "Thank you," she said softly as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Gently, the Father caught the tear with his finger and he smiled wryly. "For what, my daughter?"

"F-for listening." She smiled back.

"You are special, Willow. Never forget that." The Father rose to his full height and he walked back around his desk. As he took his seat behind his desk, he smiled inwardly. He watched Paige get up from his chair and move to stand in front of Willow. Paige leaned over her and he looked right into her eyes.

She looked right through him and her eyes only saw the Father at his desk. She was totally unaware of Paige's presence at all.

Paige waved his hand in front of her face.

Nothing.

"D-do you really think I'm special?" she asked the Father eagerly.

He nodded at her. "Yes, I do." He paused to regard her, as if searching. "There is something about you, Willow. I believe you have a gift. I can sense something..." he trailed off. Then, he chuckled. "You are yet so young. You'll find your talents soon enough and you'll learn how to use them."

"Talents? Uh, wh-what are my talents?" Willow asked with anticipation. "I-I didn't know I had any." She looked at him, her eyes wide with wonder. "I-I have a gift?"

"You'll find your way, daughter. Don't let me spoil it for you."

"Oh, uh, well, uh, that's okay. Really it is. I-I don't mind a little spoiling." She nodded her head eagerly. "Really, I don't."

The Father seemed to consider it as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. Willow didn't notice his beard because all she saw was her father's face. Finally, the Father smiled warmly at her. "Daughter, I'll show you something that you are quite capable of doing. When you realize your talents, that is. I suspect it's a few years ahead of you, but let me show you about dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Other people's dreams."

Willow paused in thought. "You mean, uh, I-I can go into other people's dreams? I mean, uh, won't they see me in their dreams if I'm, you know, there?"

"They'll see you if you want them to. Just like I wanted you to see me." He rose from behind the desk, approached her, and held out his hand. "Come with me, daughter. In years to come, you'll be able to do this. For now, just let me be your guide." He thought to himself that if Willow did live long enough to see those years, then her talent for magic would increase. He could sense her power even now and she was unaware that she had any at all. However, none of that truly mattered. The Father already had plans for Willow's future.

Willow took his hand and stood at his side. Unknown to her, Paige stood beside her. She was in between Paige and the Father.

Suddenly, the den disappeared around them and another room revealed itself as their new surroundings. They were in a bedroom.

*In the bedroom, there were boxes scattered about and it looked like they were in the process of being unpacked. Lying in bed was a young girl with blonde hair, and she was having a restless sleep.*

Willow stared at the girl in wonder as her shadow fell over the bed. It was Buffy Summers.


	3. Visions

The Father and Paige stayed back as Willow slowly approached the bed to get a closer look at the girl sleeping restlessly. The girl was tossing and turning as if she were having nightmares. Willow's shadow fell onto the bedcovers as she looked closely at the girl's face. A gasp of surprise escaped from Willow as she recognized the girl.

The Father noticed her reaction. "Do you know her, daughter?"

Willow suddenly looked as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She tilted her head and looked sheepishly at the Father, guilt written all over her face. "Uh," she hesitated, "well, yes." Then, she quickly said, "Well, uh, no. I-I mean, I don't know her, not really, b-but I know who she is."

The Father smiled warmly. "Interesting. How is it that you recognize this girl, Willow? She's obviously new to Sunnydale judging from the unpacking she appears to be in the midst of." He had chosen the girl's dreams because he could feel them as if they were his own. There was a power in her dreams that proved she was special somehow. The Father strongly believed the blonde-haired girl was destined to be something great. He could sense that the dreams she was having were glimpses of the future.

They were visions, and they called to him.

He wondered if fate had intended to bring the two girls together, for Willow also had power she was not yet aware of. The blonde-haired girl emitted a powerful presence, an aura of strength against evil. He was glad he had chosen her dreams to explore. He was convinced they would be quite revealing.

"Uh," Willow began hesitantly, "uh, well..." Somehow, the words to explain how she recognized the girl escaped her completely. Finally, she blurted out, "W-well, it-it wasn't a bad thing I did, exactly, wh-when I looked into the school's student files. I-I do it all the time." She realized she had just admitted to hacking into the school's files. She shook her head. "Oh, but-but not really all the time-all the time. O-Only some of the time, all the time 'cause, you know, I-I really don't have all the time to break into school records." She realized to her dismay she was only digging herself in deeper. She wished she would just shut up, but her mouth was still talking. "Oh, but n-not that I'm breaking into anything 'cause wh-when I back out, nothing really gets broken. Uh, I-I saw her files on my computer, but I'm done with that now, so, uh, everything's okay."

The Father chuckled.

Paige simply continued to observe. He was making mental notes and one thing he could clearly see was that first appearances were very deceiving. His first impression of Willow Rosenberg was that of a naive, plain girl who wasn't popular by any means, and was incapable of getting a date. Sure, he admitted to himself, she was cute and she had pretty eyes. He loved her long red hair. In spite of that, she was still in the "losers" circle. However, his second impression found her to be extremely smart, but still naive. She was also too damned honest. Any lie she told would be easily discovered.

There was one other thing he couldn't help notice. It was what she was wearing, or not wearing for that matter. He never thought he would see the day where he would be thinking of Willow in the way he was thinking of her at that moment. He grinned to himself as he looked her up and down. If he was ever in a room alone with her and she was dressed like that, she would find herself in very big trouble.

"Who is she, daughter?" the Father asked, watching Willow closely. "Why did you look up her personal file from the school's records?"

Willow paused. She regarded the sleeping girl thoughtfully. "Her name is Buffy Summers. I-I heard that there was a new girl moving into Sunnydale and-and she would be coming to my school. I-I heard she got kicked out of her school in LA, a-and was just curious." She turned her head to look at the Father. "So, uh, I, well, I looked at her file."

"Why did she get kicked out of her school in LA?"

Willow paused again. "Well, th-there was something about a fire." She shrugged. "I think she tried to burn down the gym." She looked down at Buffy. "I wonder if she'll try to burn down my school."

The Father moved to stand beside her. "Willow, I suspect there was another motive for you to have snooped into her personal file. Why don't you just tell me what that motive was?"

Willow glanced nervously up at him. "What-what other reason could I have? I-I was just curious."

He shook his head. "No, daughter. I think it was more than that." He regarded her for a moment. "I think you were hoping to find a new friend."

"A-a friend?" Willow laughed nervously. "Oh, I-I could never be friends with someone like Buffy Summers! She-she burned her gym down, so, uh, what would I be to her? I-I never burned anything down! Besides, she'll just join the, you know, cool crowd and-and I'll be like a flea or something. I'm in with the losers, you know." She thought about the outfit her mother had set out for her. "In the morning, I'm really going to look like one."

He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring hug. "Willow, my dear, I think you are just too hard on yourself."

"No, I'm not. Everybody else is. Uh, except for Xander." She paused. "I-I guess I'm just no Cordelia Chase."

"Of course, you're not. You're Willow Rosenberg. How could you possibly be anyone else?"

Willow looked up at him. She smiled wryly. "Thanks, Dad." She put her arms around him and hugged him.

The Father returned the hug and he saw Paige trying not to laugh.

The Father then stood with Willow beside the bed and he held her hand in his. "Are you ready to see into her dreams, Willow?"

Willow hesitated as she looked at Buffy's face. "She-she looks so troubled." She looked up at him. "M-maybe we shouldn't. Uh, wouldn't we be invading her thoughts?"

The Father nodded his head. "Yes, but she'll never know we were there. Besides, in a few years, you'll be able to do this."

Willow looked at him curiously. "I will? But how?"

"All in good time, my daughter, but first," he placed his hand upon Buffy's forehead, "let's go into her dreams."

Abruptly, the scenery changed around them.

They were standing in the middle of a cemetery. The sun was just beginning to set, yet there was still daylight left to see by. Willow turned around and saw a mausoleum. There was a statue of an angel standing upon the roof directly above the entrance of the mausoleum.

The Father was surveying their new surroundings intently. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be excited. "There's something very familiar about all this," he hissed softly.

Paige glanced at him with concern. It was as if the Father had forgotten about Willow.

Willow, however, reminded him of her presence by trying to be helpful. "Uh, familiar?" She paused. "You've seen one cemetery, you've, uh, seen them all...right?"

He shook his head impatiently. "No! No...not the cemetery. The vision!"

"Vision?" Willow looked at the Father with concern. She didn't like this side of him, and she backed away a few steps. She wanted to wake up from the dream now, but she couldn't wake up.

"Yes!" he exclaimed dramatically. "A vision, Willow! This Buffy Summers is having a vision." He shook his head in wonder. "I was right to choose her dreams. She truly does have a destiny! A purpose!"

"Uh, y-you can tell that, just by standing in a cemetery?"

The Father looked at her. Then, he shook his head and chuckled. "No, daughter. I can tell because I can feel the power of the visions." He paused in thought. "I know of no other way of describing it to you. Perhaps one day, you'll feel it, too."

Curious, Willow began to look around at the head stones, and the mausoleum. "Well, uh, wh-what does her vision mean?" A thought suddenly struck her and she looked at the Father in alarm. "Oh! Y-you don't think this vision is about B-Buffy's death, do you?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Uh, w-well, if I had a vision of a cemetery, I'd be thinking, you know, that death was involved there somewhere."

Abruptly, the scenery changed once again. It was now night and they were standing on a lawn beneath a starry sky. Willow turned her head and saw Sunnydale High directly behind them. She pointed excitedly. "That's my school!" she exclaimed. "Look! We--"

Something growled and hissed.

Hesitantly, Willow turned around and found herself staring in horror at a crowd of people moving slowly toward them. Something was dreadfully wrong with the people as they made their approach. The Father stood beside Willow with Paige on his right, and together, they watched the mob as the drew near.

Willow didn't like the way their faces looked. She took a fearful step back. "Uh, what-what's wrong with them?"

The Father reached out and grabbed her arm to keep her from bolting. "Stay still, daughter." His eyes didn't look away from the scene before them. "Rememeber, this is only a vision. They cannot see us."

Willow froze as a woman began to walk past her. She was horrified by what she saw. The woman's face was lumpy, her eyes were yellow, and she had horrible fangs.

"Uh, I-I-I really don't like this vision," Willow said in a soft, hushed tone.

Paige was astonished by the sight, but he wasn't truly surprised by the vision of vampires. The Brotherhood was allied with vampires. The only thing that puzzled him was where the visions were coming from. Buffy Summers. Then, there was something special about her, but what could it be?

"It is very interesting, isn't it?" The Father studied the crowd, even as some of them literally passed right through him, continuing on their way toward the school.

"Uh, no, but-but it is scary." Willow tore her eyes away from the hideously walking dead and looked toward the Father fearfully. She couldn't believe what he had said. "H-how could you say this is interesting? Uh, B-Buffy dreams of dead places and-and dead people, b-but they're not together! Normally they would be, but these dead people aren't anywhere near a dead place." She glanced toward the school. "I-is it some kind of weird study group or-or something?"

The Father shook his head. "They're vampires, daughter."

Willow stared. "Th-they're wh-what?"

"Vampires."

"Oh, okay. For a second there, I thought you said vampires."

He turned to look at her. "I did."

"Oh." Willow swallowed. "I-I think I'm gonna throw up."

"Daughter--"

She shook her head. "Uh, but th-they're not real. Not really. I-I mean, they don't..." She watched the passing vampire's fearfully, flinching when one passed by her a little too closely. "Th-they don't exist!"

The Father nodded solemnly. "Yes, child. Vampires are real. By the looks from this vision, I suspect that vampires do indeed exist right here in Sunnydale."

"No!" Willow exclaimed, horrified. "Not here in Sunnydale! Uh, 'cause here is where I exist!"

The Father ignored her. His thoughts were far away. "I wonder..." he trailed off as the scenery around them changed yet again.

"Oh, no..." Willow said in a hushed, fearful tone as her body was assaulted by the sudden change in temperature. It was cold, and she saw torches lined up along the walls of a huge cavern. Where torches were not lit, candles were set up. Vampires moved freely about, and some were sitting still as they chanted in reverent tones. Near the entrance, there were vampires standing like sentries. At the rear of the cavern, there was a sight that Willow found terrifying.

The Father began to move toward it with Paige at his side.

"W-wait!" Willow cried. She hurried ofter the Father. She didn't care if the vampires really couldn't see her. She didn't want to be left alone in this place.

She hurried to his side just as he stopped at the very edge of a dark pool of blood. Kneeling before the pool of blood was a huge hulking figure of a vampire. This vampire was bowing reverently and chanting words that could be clearly heard.

 _The Sleeper will wake...The Sleeper will wake...The Sleeper will wake...And the world will bleed." He raised his head and looked up toward the cavern's ceiling with adoration in his eyes. "Amen!"_

The Father smiled at the vampire kneeling before the pool of blood. "Luke," he said to himself. Realization dawned on him. His eyes widened as he understood where he was. "Ah, yes! The Master! Heinrich Joseph Nest, my old friend!" He laughed.

Paige squatted beside the pool of blood and looked into it, or at least tried to. He couldn't see anything, however, because the blood was too thick. He found himself wondering how deep it was.

Willow stared at the blood, horrified. She found it difficult not to throw up, but somehow she managed to avoid doing just that. "Uh, who's Luke?" She looked up at the Father. "I-is he this Master?"

The Father turned to Willow and he smiled warmly at her. "My daughter...I think you're seen enough, don't you?"

The Father reached for her to give her a hug. As he did, the scenery changed abruptly yet again.

Willow bolted up right in her bed and screamed. She looked around and discovered the familiar surroundings of her own bedroom. She looked anxiously at her closed bedroom door and, with her heart racing, she waited hopefully.

She had just awakened from a nightmare, a nightmare that was fading from memory as nightmares and dreams often did. She had also screamed, yet the door remained closed.

Her parents did not come rushing in to see what wrong.

Willow sighed deeply and laid back down onto her bed. It didn't matter anyway, she thought. It was just a dream. That's all it was. The reality she had to face was getting up and getting ready for school.


	4. Geeks 'R' Us Club

Willow's nightmare never ended, or at least that's what she was telling herself as she stood in the bathroom in front of the mirror. She wanted to know who the Pippy Longstocking look-a-like was in the mirror with the long red hair and the sullen look. What was her mother thinking when she bought this outfit? Willow was horrified at the idea of actually being seen in public wearing these clothes! No wonder Xander just thought she was one of the guys. Maybe hanging out with geeky girls in nerdy outfits was like hanging out with geeky guys.

She scowled at herself in the mirror. "I have an idea. You go to school, 'cause I think I'm gonna stay home."

She blinked.

For just a split second, she could have sworn she saw her reflection smile. Or was it a smirk?

Willow leaned forward and studied her reflection carefully. Then she shook her head and adjusted the backpack straps around her shoulders. Wearing the outfit had affected her more than she realized. She wasn't only having nightmares she couldn't remember when she woke up, now she was seeing things that wasn't really there.

"Willow!" Sheila Rosenberg called to her from the kitchen. "It's time for you to go, dear! You don't want to be late!"

Willow nodded solemnly to her reflection. "Oh, yes, I do," she said under her breath. "I want to be very late."

However, she was resigned to her fate. She left the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen. Her mother was quoting off a list of instructions she felt was necessary to help her daughter throughout the school day. Willow wearily went through the motions of listening, she already had an idea of how to survive the day. She was going to think about Xander. Thinking about Xander always brought a smile to her face.

"Oh, that outfit looks so lovely on you!" Sheila exclaimed, interrupting herself in the middle of her list. "And you were so worried about wearing it."

"Mom, I'm still worried." Willow hesitated. "I-I think I'm in a Brother's Grimm fairy tale."

"Oh, nonsense. You look very pretty. I'm sure everyone you see today will think so, too." She waggled her eyes. "Maybe Xander will think so. Hmm?"

Willow froze. She hadn't realized until that moment she was going to eventually run into Xander sooner or later, and then he would see her wearing this ridiculous outfit. The school day was already starting out badly. A panicked look crossed her face.

Sheila noticed the look. "Now, dear, you'll be all right. After all, mothers do know best." She grabbed her purse from the counter and began to pull money out from her wallet. "I'm putting aside extra money for you for the weekend. Your father and I will be away. Oh, you know how it is. The things we must do for the company's we work for."

Willow frowned at her. "Mom, you're...you're going away? Again?"

"Yes, dear." She handed Willow the money. "Oh, stop being a worry-wart. You'll be fine. The refrigerator will be full and you'll have plenty of your favorite ice cream." She regarded her daughter with a stern expression. "Xander can come over to see you, Willow, but he cannot spend the night. No boys in your room."

Willow didn't have to worry about that. "But, Mom--"

"Oh,my! It's getting late. You'd better run off now." She gave Willow a kiss on her forehead. "Have a wonderful day, sweety."

Willow discovered that she had been led to the front door and, before she knew it, she found herself standing on the welcome mat as the door closed behind her. She looked at the door and frowned. With no other choice, she gathered up what courage she had, and she began her walk to school. On her way there, she kept thinking about Xander. Xander would be more than enough to make this day improve.

It helped her. As she drew closer to the school, she began to notice that other students were throwing funny looks in her direction, or so it seemed. Some looked like they wanted to laugh. Others looked at her like she was some kind of a reject. Some even pointed at her.

This was bad, she thought to herself. Very bad.

Then she saw someone she knew sitting up against a tree. It was Joshua MacDonald, a fellow computer nerd and an official member of the Geeks 'R' Us Club, just like her. She was relieved to see a friendly face, so she approached him, feeling better already. The closer she got to him, however, the more concerned she became for him. Joshua was sitting with his wrists resting upon his knees and his head was bowed. His backpack was on the ground next to him. In his right hand, he held onto an inhaler. The inhaler was yellow; color-coded for Ventolin. It was something he used only when he had to.

Apparently, he had to.

Willow knelt beside him, put her books down, and as she adjusted her backpack with one hand, she placed her other hand gently on his shoulder. "Joshua, are you okay?"

Joshua raised his head and found himself looking into Willow's eyes. He was grateful for her concern. "I'm...I'm okay," he said slowly. "J-just need to...stop and...c-catch my breath."

Willow suddenly felt ashamed of herself. There she was feeling all sorry for herself about looking nerdy when there were others-like Joshua-who suffered far more than she did every day- without complaint! Joshua's parents had been heavy smoker's when he was born, and it was because of their smoking habits during his first six months that Joshua had contracted severe asthma. When the doctor had explained the seriousness of the babies condition to them, both mother and father stopped smoking immediately. They went cold turkey.

Unfortunately, Joshua still had to live with it on a daily basis. Willow knew him well enough to know there were certain things that directly caused an asthma attack. It could be caused by a certain smell, or too much exertion. Or stress. She suddenly wondered which one of those things was responsible for the attack.

"Was it a bad attack?" she asked him softly. "Y-you look a little pale." She was scared for him.

He shrugged casually. "Nah. It...it was an...in between at-attack."

"Oh." Willow paused in thought. "Well, uh, what's in between?"

He smiled wryly at her. "It's in between a...a good attack, and...and a really bad one."

"Oh," she said again. She regarded Joshua. "Well, then, uh, what's a good attack?"

"No attack...at all."

She smiled at him.

Joshua grinned. "You look pretty...Willow."

She blinked at him in surprise. "Uh, I-I do?" She looked down at the outfit she was wearing and then looked at Joshua suspiciously. "Uh, well, you don't think I look like Pippy Longstocking?"

He shook his head and let out a chuckle. He leaned his back against the tree, shook his inhaler, and then gave it another squeeze into his mouth.

"Are you feeling any better?" Willow asked him with concern. "Uh, maybe I should get the school nurse."

He shook his head. "Oh...thanks, Willow...No. I-ll...I'll just sit here and wait for...wait for Silver."

Silver was his girlfriend, but her real name was Sylvia Landry. She was a computer nerd with short, black hair, freckles, and glasses. Joshua had called her Silver since the first day they met. Now he was the only one she would allow to call her by that name.

"What caused your attack, Joshua?" Willow asked curiously.

He hesitated. "Oh...don't worry about it." He shrugged as if it were nothing. "It...it happens. I'm used to it."

"Someone gave you trouble," she said knowingly, "uh, pushed you around. Who was it, Josh?"

He shook his head. "Someone a lot bigger than you, Willow. A...a lot meaner, too. Are you gonna go after him...if I tell you his name?" He smiled at her to let her know he was half serious and half teasing her.

Willow tried to look belligerent. "Well...no! Uh, I won't go after him, whoever he is, even if he is bigger and-and meaner, but, well, who does he think he is, pushing people around? Maybe some pushy people who push kids should be pushed right back! You know, see if he likes it!"

"Uh, Willow...pushing him back really wouldn't be a good idea."

She frowned at him. "Well, why not?"

"It would only make him mad."

"Well, I'm mad. Aren't you mad? You should be mad. I'm just madder than, you know, a wet hen, let me tell you!" She scowled. "A-and maybe he is bigger than me as you say, but the bigger they are, well, the-the harder you have to push!"

He grinned at her. "Don't you mean 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall'?"

"No." She gave him a look. "You know what I mean, mister."

Joshua looked at her. "You know, Willow...the hardest thing about it is that..." he stopped to take a breath, "they...they just don't understand...how serious asthma is..."

"Who was it, Josh?"

He hesitated. "Paige."

"Virgil Paige?"

He nodded. "Baddest bully of Sunnydale High...since Nathaniel Lenox."

"Virgil Paige freakin' sucks!" exclaimed Sylvia Landry as she made her presence known. She was carrying her books in one hand, and her glasses in the other. "That dirty bastard broke my glasses!" She held them up, and they were completely snapped apart from the middle. "Now I'll look like a dork with these taped together!"

Joshua took her glasses from her and frowned. "I'm sorry, Silver. How did he...he break them?"

"The son-of-a-bitch walked right up to me, whipped them from off my face, and just snapped them in half!" She let out a sigh of frustration. "He dropped them into my hand, smiled, and walked away."

"Somebody should do something!" Willow exclaimed. "H-he just can't keep pushing people around. It's not right!"

"Willow, he doesn't care about right. He only care about belittling you. You've seen for yourself how he is."

"Well, yes. I know what's he like. I-I've seen him do the bully thing." Willow frowned. "He's in my history class." She had seen Paige bully a lot of kids, but he never had bullied her. She hoped he wouldn't start.

"Just be thankful that he's not Lenox," Sylvia said, thinking back to the eighth grade. "He and Paige were friends then. At the beginning of the year, Lenox dropped my glasses on the floor, and crushed them with his stinking feet. Then the bastard super glued my fingers together and put tape over my eyes." She looked at Willow. "Paige is bad, but no one can be as bad as Lenox."

"I remember Nathan Lenox, but he never really bothered me. He didn't seem to like Xander very much, though. He gave Xander a lot of swirly's." Willow looked thoughtful. "He wasn't here last year."

"Health issues, I heard," Joshua said. "Some medical emergency." He put his yellow-coded inhaler into his pack and something fell out onto the ground. He picked it up and put it back into his pack.

It looked like a small, sealed plastic tube. Willow wondered what it was. As she was beginning to understand what the tube was, she saw the concerned look on Sylvia's face. She decided not to press the matter. Sylvia motioned to Willow with her hand and mouthed the words, "I'll tell you later."

Willow nodded.

The two girls helped Joshua to his feet. He didn't actually need their assistance, but he did love the attention. He smiled at them appreciatively.

Sylvia favored him with a look. "You wipe that smile from your face, buddy. You can't have both of us, and besides, you've already got me."

Joshua grinned at her. "A guy can dream, can't he?" He winked at Willow.

Willow smiled.

"I have to get to my locker," Sylvia said with a sigh. "Plus, I need to find some damn tape." She frowned about her broken glasses.

Joshua nodded. To Willow, he said, "I'll see you in class, Willow, but Mr. Chomsky won't be in today."

Willow looked at him. "Oh, really? How come?"

"You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

Joshua glanced at Sylvia. "Well, he...he was in a car accident last night. He's in the hospital now and...well, it's going around school he's in pretty bad shape."

"Oh, no," Willow said. "I-I like Mr. Chomsky. I hope he'll be okay."

"Me, too."

"Well, uh, how bad is bad?" Willow looked concerned.

Joshua shrugged. "I don't know. That's all we heard." He waved at her. "I'll see you in class."

Willow absently waved back, thinking about Mr. Chomsky. "Uh, okay. Bye, Josh. Bye, Sylvia."

They walked off in different directions.

Willow continued on her way and as she did, she saw a Jeep Bronco pulling up to the curb. A blonde-haired girl climbed out from the passenger side and Willow suddenly stopped short. To her amazement, it was the new girl-Buffy Summers. Willow suddenly remembered part of her dream where she was standing in Buffy's bedroom at her bedside, and she felt a little guilty about it. She saw a woman behind the steering wheel of the Bronco and realized that it was probably Buffy's mother. From where she was standing, she was able to overhear their conversation, another thing she felt guilty about.

 _"And honey?" Buffy's mother inquired._

 _Buffy turned to look back at her._

 _"Try not to get kicked out?"_

 _She smiled wryly. "I promise."_

 _Joyce Summers smiled back. "Okay."_

Buffy turned around to face the school as her mother drove off. She was unaware that she was being watched by someone with green eyes; someone who was very curious about her. With a look of determination, the new girl headed directly for the school.

Willow was already impressed by the way Buffy Summers carried herself. The new girl seemed like she was ready to take on any challenge. Willow found herself wishing she was more like that, but she wasn't. She began to move forward and that's when she heard a familiar voice.

It made her smile.

 _"'Scuse me, comin' through, pardon me, 'scuse me, whoa!"_

Willow saw him, then, weaving around his fellow students on his skateboard.

Xander Harris!

 _"'Scuse me, not sure how to stop! Please move, whoa, 'scuse me..." Xander's eyes spotted Buffy Summers. It was just one look, and that's all it took. "Whoa!" he breathed._

 _Xander stared at Buffy and he didn't notice the stair railing he was heading right for until he crashed into it and fell beneath it, grunting in pain. "Oh, God," he moaned, more embarrassed than physically hurt. "I'm okay. I feel good."_

 _Willow walked up, but she had to step high to avoid tripping over his legs._

 _He grinned up at her. "Willow!" he exclaimed. "You're so very much the person I wanted to see."_

 _"Oh, really?" Her dark world suddenly got so much brighter and the smile on her face showed it. She looked down at him and absently tucked her hair behind her ear as Xander dragged himself back to his feet._

 _"Yeah. You know." He shrugged as they headed up the steps together. "I kind of had a problem with the math."_

 _"Uh, which part?" She looked at his face. She loved to watch his mouth move when he talked, and she especially loved to get lost looking into his gorgeous, dark, brown eyes._

 _"The math. Can you help me out tonight, please? Be my study buddy?"_

 _She tried to give him a hard time. "Well, what's in it for me?"_

 _"A shiny nickel."_

 _Willow smiled. "Okay." She didn't really care about a shiny nickel. Studying with Xander meant that she would be with him and that was more than good enough for her. "Do you have 'Theories In Trig'? You should check it out."_

 _Xander frowned. "'Check it out'?"_

 _"From the library," she told him, "where the books live."_

 _He nodded knowingly. "Right. I'm there." He grinned at her. "See? I wanna change."_

They continued on their way, unaware that they were being watched by Paige and his watch dogs, Randall and Talbot. Paige and his Brothers had been joined by three of their Initiates; Hal Levy, Bill Viccors, and Marc Shiva. Everyone of them had their eyes on Willow.

Paige thought about the Father and grinned. "And so it begins...as he commands."


	5. Bully

Willow walked into her first period classroom hoping to find Joshua had arrived before she did. She was disappointed, however, when she didn't see him.

She did see Virgil Paige, and a part of her wanted to tell him to stop bullying people 'cause it just wasn't nice. She didn't though. She was only a girl and he was bigger than she was.

Paige stood at the back of the room, leaning casually against the wall as he talked to two girls who were sitting in the back row. As Willow had entered the room, they stopped talking and watched her. Willow tried not to let it bother her, but it did, especially when they continued to watch her as she took her seat in the front row.

With her back toward them, she pushed them out of her mind and watched the doorway for Joshua. She was very concerned for him. She could only imagine what it was she had seen fall from his pack earlier, and from the way Sylvia had looked at her, she knew it wasn't a good thing. Well, severe asthma was serious business. Willow could only think of one thing that the odd looking tube could possibly be- an Epi-Pen. She had heard Joshua talk about it once before. His parents wanted him to have one, and now he did. Willow had looked it up on the web. It was an Epinepherine Injection Syringe and it was something people used when their inhalers stopped working or when their airways were closing off. It was designed to open the airways, to keep the heart pumping and the blood flowing, and it prevented anaphalactic reaction. In other words, it helped a person to continue breathing until help arrived.

It was a drastic step, but it was meant to save lives. For Joshua to have such a thing only showed Willow that his asthma was even more severe than he had let on.

Willow sat there with those thoughts until she realized something. She looked down at the surface of her desk and frowned. There was a shadow crossing over her desk that hadn't been there before. Turning her head, she looked up and discovered Paige standing beside her desk. He regarded her with a look reserved for peasants.

"Why are you sitting there?" he asked her softly.

Willow looked up at him and it took her a second to register that he was indeed talking to her. "Uh, wh-what?"

Paige simply looked at her.

The look gave her chills. "Uh, wh-why am I sitting here?" She hesitated. "I-in this seat? Well, uh, i-it's where I sit. Uh, i-it's my seat for, you know, history class where I've been sitting since s-school started."

"You're taking a new seat," Paige told her. "This seat is taken."

Willow looked puzzled, and she hesitated nervously. "Oh, b-but Mr. Chomsky--"

"--Is not here," he interrupted her. "Due to Mr. Chomsky's absence, there will be a new teacher. New teacher. New seating arrangements."

Willow didn't know what to say. "Oh."

Paige looked at her. "I don't see you moving. Find. A. New. Seat."

She swallowed. "Oh, uh, I'm-I'm sorry." She picked up her books, aware that her hands were shaking, and glanced at him. "Uh, I'll move." She got up, moved slowly around him, and went to the next seat in the front row. She sat down, trying hard to ignore the smirks she was getting from the other kids who had arrived. She thought it was over. Paige had bullied her and now he would go away.

But he didn't.

He was standing right there, beside her desk.

Feeling suddenly very afraid, Willow looked up at him.

Paige shook his head. "Wrong seat."

Willow tried very hard to comprehend why this was happening to her. Her throat felt suddenly dry. "Uh, V-Virgil, why do you want me to--?"

"Willow," Paige began with a hint of warning in his voice, "do not test me, and we're not friends, so don't use my first name. Or my last." He looked down at her. "AND if I tell you to move, you just do it. Without question."

"Oh," she said in a small voice. She had this strong, powerful urge to cry, but somehow, she kept herself from doing just that. She picked up her books, hugged them to herself- wishing her books were a shield- and got up once again. She moved over to the next desk, but before she set her books down, she turned to look at Paige with uncertainty.

He shook his head.

Please, leave me alone, she wanted to scream. Why are you doing this? I don't understand! She glanced nervously around, wishing someone would help her...but no one did. The kids who were present only watched as if it was the biggest entertainment they'd ever seen.

The two remaining seats in the front row were already taken. One desk was taken by a short, chubby boy with thick glasses, the kind that made his eyes bigger than they actually were. Like big bug eyes. The other desk was taken by a girl with dark hair down to her shoulders. They were both watching Willow and Paige. The boy was leering at her, but the girl was looking at her with sympathy.

Directly behind the seat Willow would have taken was a tall, blonde-haired boy. He sat with his arms folded across his chest. He was watching her, too. On the back of his right hand, she noticed a tattoo of a burning sun, but she didn't give it another thought until much later. It was the lack of expression on Bill Viccors' face that bothered her, and the coldness in his eyes that frightened her. She didn't like the way he was looking at her.

She wished she was invisible.

Paige grew impatient with her hesitation and he abruptly moved closer to her, holding out his hands. "Give me your books."

Willow flinched and backed up a step. "Wh-what?"

He scowled at her. "Do NOT make me repeat myself."

"O-Okay." She handed her books over to him. Then, she just happened to see the same tattoo Viccors had on the back of his right hand, but at the moment, she was too frightened to notice any connection. She didn't want to give Paige her books, but she didn't want any trouble either. With no one jumping to her defense, what could she possibly do to make him leave her alone? He never bullied her before now. What did she do to make him choose today to start?

Paige carried her books and he walked toward the desk behind Viccors. He set them down and looked at her. "This is where you'll be sitting from now on."

Willow didn't argue with him. She moved to her new desk and sat down as the bell rang. More students began to file in, including Joshua, and he seemed to be puzzled by the new seating arrangements. He headed for an empty seat on Willow's left, but Marc Shiva beat him to it.

Joshua looked apologetically at Willow and took a seat between Shiva and the window.

Shiva was huge. He had muscles that bulged, and Willow found herself staring at him, both fascinated and troubled. Shiva turned his head to grin at her. His right hand was on the surface of the desk and the back of his hand was facing toward her.

Willow stared.

She was looking at a tattoo of a burning sun.

She glanced toward the boy sitting ahead of Shiva, and to her horror, he also had a tattoo on the back of his hand. Willow felt a sudden chill run through her. She looked toward the door and wondered why the substitute teacher had not yet arrived. Why was he late?

She glanced to her right. The three desks on her right were occupied by boys. On her left, it was the same. Viccors sat in front of her, and she was seriously beginning to wonder why Paige had made her sit where she was now sitting. Like she was in the center, boxed in. Trapped.

Why?

She froze as a thought struck her.

W-who is sitting behind me?

Hesitant, she turned her head to look behind her.

Paige regarded her. "Do you have a problem?" he asked.

"Uh, no." She shook her head. "N-no problem."

"Then turn around."

Without a word, Willow turned back around and she decided to keep her eyes focused on the door until the teacher arrived. She couldn't understand why he was late, but she was so willing to bring in a bag full of apples if he would never be late again.

Paige slowly reached forward and he ran his hand through Willow's hair. She flinched and jerked suddenly away from him, eyes wide. She turned and looked at him, but he was sitting back in his seat. He wrapped a strand of her hair around his fingers.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing?" she asked with a tremor in her voice.

He looked at her. "Relax, Willow. I happen to like your hair, so I took a strand. Is that really so bad?" He smiled at her.

She had no idea how to respond to that, but she didn't like it. Not one tiny little bit.

Paige paused. "Anything else troubling you?"

She forced herself to shake her head.

He leaned forward, bringing his face closer. "I want you to know something, Willow. Everything I do is for a purpose. This means that you have become my purpose." He paused. "How does that make you feel?"

Willow hesitated. "I-I don't want to be your p-purpose."

He paused intentionally, studying her face. "Turn around and keep your eyes forward."

Willow was stunned, but as she tried to understand what he meant about her being his purpose, she turned around again. She nervously placed her hands in front of her and watched the door.

Oh, where was the teacher? Why was this happening? Would it end?

She tried to look on the brighter side of things. History class was first period, and she had it on Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday. If she made it through this class, she wouldn't have to be there again until Monday. This Friday, she had Study Hall, and Xander would be there with her. All she had to do was make it through this class.

"By the way, Willow," Paige said softly from behind, "nice outfit."

She froze. Thanks, Mom, she thought despairingly.

"That's probably a one-of-a-kind outfit, isn't it? It has to be." He paused for effect. "I haven't seen any other girls in this school wearing an outfit like that."

She closed her eyes. Please, make it stop.

"You look like one of those catholic school girls; you know, the little girls who all wear the same uniform." He watched her from behind and noticed how tense she was. He grinned. "Are you sure you're in the right school?"

Willow stared ahead at the door, and all around her she could hear some of her fellow classmates chuckling or laughing softly to themselves. Laughing at her distress. She tried so hard to ignore it but she couldn't. She unconsciously bit on her lower lip in an attempt to keep herself from crying.

It didn't help.

Her eyes began to fill with tears.

Paige turned his attention to Shiva. "Fury..."

Shiva moved his huge frame to look back at Paige. "Yeah?"

"Is Willow crying?"

Shiva looked puzzled. Then, he looked over at Willow as she turned her head a little to look over at him. She felt so helpless. A tear rolled down her cheek. Shiva clearly saw the tear and he then looked into Willow's eyes.

Abruptly, Shiva sat back and looked toward the front of the class. "No," he said casually. "She's not crying."

Willow glanced over at him in surprise. Shiva didn't look back.

From behind her, Paige let out a soft chuckle. "Well, good for you, little girl. If you had been crying, you would have shown us all what a Weeping Willow looks like."

There was more laughter.

Willow felt like weeping bitterly, but she focused on Shiva's one act of kindness and it helped. Even just a little bit. She wanted to thank him for it, yet she knew she couldn't- at least not at the moment.

The substitute chose that moment to arrive and Willow was overcome with a deep sense of relief. The new teacher was a tall, clean shaven man with broad shoulders. He carried a briefcase, which he placed casually on the desk. He then leaned against the desk, regarding the students.

"Good morning, class," he greeted them.

Most of the students responded with, "Good morning," back to him.

He smiled wryly at them. "I am Mr. Ronald Barr, and as you all know, I will be substituting for Mr. Chomsky who had a rather serious accident last night. He was in a car accident, and at this time, it is undetermined if he will be returning to his duties any time soon. I offer you my heartfelt sympathies, for I am sure he will be missed." He put his hands together in anticipation. "Now, I must apologize for my tardiness this morning. This I must also do in advance as I shall be tardy for every class by no later than ten minutes. I have other obligations that I cannot break. I spend my early mornings at Sunnydale University, and then I drive here to be with you young, aspiring students at Sunnydale High. After which I again drive back to SU for the remainder of the day. Ah, but such is the life of a dedicated teacher of fresh minds."

Willow didn't enjoy the idea of coming into this classroom knowing Mr. Barr would always be ten minutes late. Ten minutes could last a whole eternity, especially if being pushed around by the class bully and his goons.

Mr. Barr clapped his hands together with enthusiasm. "Now that I have told you who I am, let me get to know who you are." He pointed at a girl in the front row. "We'll begin with you. Stand up and tell us who you are. Give us your name, tell us something you like, and tell us something you don't like."

The girl rose to her feet, apparently not too shy about receiving attention. She purposefully shook her head so that her hair waved about her shoulders. "My name is Diana Williams," she said with a bright, happy smile. "I like boys, cheer leading, dancing, and boys. I don't like bad hair." She waved happily at the class and sat down.

The girl behind her stood up and told the class her name, something she liked, and something she disliked. They seemed to drag on. Willow was filled with dread, knowing it would soon be her turn and she only wanted to be invisible.

It was almost her turn. In growing horror, she watched each student stand...one by one.

Rebecca Rose. Rick Lewis. Todd Griswald. Sandi Dumas. The first row on Willow's right were done. The second row began. Michael Rogers. Jon Bailey. Hal Levy. He was sitting at the desk on Willow's right. Garth Talbot. Jennifer Leigh.

Willow closed her eyes. It was her rows turn. When she opened her eyes, Rodney Willem was standing up. He sat down.

Bill Viccors rose to his feet. He said his name, he said his likes and dislikes, but Willow didn't hear a word of it. She was almost frozen in fear.

Viccors sat down and he turned in his seat to leer at her.

All eyes were now on Willow, and all she wanted to do was hide. The class continued to look at her as she remained seated.

She hesitated.

Finally, she managed somehow to stand, and tried to stop shaking. She opened her mouth to speak. "Uh, W-Willow Rosenberg," she said. She cleared her throat nervously, focusing on Mr. Barr as she tried to ignore the class. "Uh, I-I like playing the p-piano, and-and I like to s-study."

"Oh, give me a break!" Levy shook his head and snorted.

Willow winced and glanced at him.

"Go on, Willow," Mr. Barr said encouragingly. "What is it you don't like?"

Willow looked at him. "I-I don't like b-bullies."

She was done. With a sense of relief, she was about to sit down, but the unthinkable happened.

Mr. Barr held out his hand. "Wait just a moment, Willow. Don't take your seat yet."

Horrified, Willow stood still and focused on the teacher. She was only too aware that everyone was watching her.

"You say you play the piano, Willow?" Mr. Barr inquired.

She nodded.

"How well do you play?"

Willow hesitated. "Uh, oh, well, I-I play okay on the piano. Uh, not great, just okay. I'm-I'm really not that good, Mr. Barr. N-not really, no."

"Would you be able to play something for the class if I were to arrange it?"

"Uh, w-what?" Her face was turning a nice shade of red.

"Perhaps something historical! An interlude from the past."

Willow shook her head. "Oh, no-no. I-I couldn't do that, Mr. Barr. I--"

"We'll talk about it later," Mr. Barr said with an encouraging smile. "I'm also quite pleased to hear that you enjoy your studies. That is refreshing! I have seen your school records, young lady, and they are truly quite impressive."

Willow could feel the eyes of envy from her fellow students boring into her. She wanted the substitute teacher to stop bringing attention to her. She didn't want any of this.

"Uh, thank you," she stammered, and she abruptly sat down.

Mr. Barr, however, wasn't done with her. "Willow, let me assure you that there will be no bullies in this classroom." He looked at her reassuringly. "That's a promise! Okay?"

Willow wanted so badly to disappear. Why did she have to say she didn't like bullies? "Okay," she said meekly. She could feel Paige's eyes on her from behind.

For the remainder of the class, the rest of the students stood up one by one, and they each told their names, something they liked, and something they didn't like. When the last student took her seat, Mr. Barr began to tell the class that he was going to continue where Mr. Chomsky had left off. He told the class what he expected from them and that he was a firm believer in homework.

They would continue to look into the Civil War era. He expected every one to read the first five chapters of their History book. A discussion of the five chapters would follow with a quiz on Monday, much to the horror and dismay of the students.

Willow only half listened as Mr. Barr talked to them. She was still stunned by Paige's sudden "bulliness" toward her. She found herself wondering if she had done something to offend him. He never really bothered her before today. Why was he bullying her now?

A few times throughout the period, she caught Joshua smiling encouragingly at her. It helped her a little, but only just. When the bell finally rang, it was the sweetest sound Willow had ever heard.


	6. A Fresh New Start

When the school bell rang, Willow grabbed her books. Unfortunately, before she could even get out of her seat, Paige was standing there- towering over her. She looked up at him and she wished fervently that he would just go away.

But he didn't go away.

He showed her the strand of her hair he had taken from her, brought it to his face, and he inhaled its scent. He smiled at her. Willow stared at him and she had no idea what Paige's game was, but she was frightened by it.

Paige silently regarded her for a moment. Then, he joined his fellow brothers and they left the classroom.

"Willow."

Willow turned her head.

Joshua was watching her with concern. "Willow, are you okay?"

"N-no!" She shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the doorway in which Paige had just disappeared through. She was trembling from the experience of having been bullied. "Wh-what's wrong with him, Josh? I-I don't understand. Why is he like that?"

"He's just a bully, Willow. He gets his kicks out of pushing other kids around. Like you and me." He paused. "He thinks we're weak."

"Weak? Uh, like...like new born baby chicks weak?"

Joshua shrugged. "He picks on kids like us 'cause he knows we really can't fight back."

Willow frowned. She was trying not to cry. "W-well, maybe we should find a way to fight back! I don't want to hate coming to class, Joshua. I like History!"

Before Joshua could respond, Willow took her books and her pack, and she hurried out of the room. She walked quickly and she didn't really care where she was going. She just wanted to get away from that classroom.

She saw an unoccupied water fountain and stopped for a drink. The water was cold and invigorating. It was fresh, and fresh was something she needed. A fresh new start- with first period History class behind her.

As she drank in the fresh, cold water, she was telling herself that everything was going to be okay in spite of Virgil Paige and his evil minions. The day could only get better from this moment on because she simply refused to believe it could get any worse.

 _"Willow!" a familiar voice called out from behind her, proving her wrong. "Nice dress! Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears."_

 _Willow straightened as she turned and found herself looking at Cordelia Chase, Sunnydale High's very own Queen of Mean. Cordelia was not alone. A blonde-haired girl was standing next to her and she was regarding Willow with a look._

 _Willow almost gasped. It was the new girl. Buffy Summers._

 _"Uh, well," Willow stammered, "well, my Mom picked it out."_

 _Cordelia smiled condescendingly at her. "No wonder you're such a guy magnet." She looked at her sternly. "Are you done?"_

 _Willow glanced at the water fountain. "Oh!" she exclaimed. Then, she couldn't think of a single thing to say so she looked at Cordelia, and then she looked at Buffy. Abruptly, she hugged her books to herself, turned, and began to walk away._

 _She could hear Cordelia's cutting comments to Buffy about her as she tried to gain distance._

 _"If you want to fit in here," Cordelia explained to the new girl, "the first rule is to know your losers. Once you can identify them all by sight--" she cast a withering glare at Willow just as the girl stopped at the entrance to another hallway, glancing sheepishly back at them. "--they're a lot easier to avoid."_

Willow saw the new girl looking at her.

Well, at least now she knew. Even if Buffy Summers had not burned down her old school's gymnasium, she still wouldn't see Willow as someone she would want to hang out with. Why was that? Willow asked herself bitterly. 'Cause the new girl wants to hang out with the Fairy Princess Cordelia Chase. Buffy Summers was a Cordette!

Willow was feeling badly as she made her way to her locker. As she opened it, she thought about climbing into her locker and closing herself inside. Would any one even notice if she were missing? As she fumbled about with the contents of her locker, two boys suddenly appeared, one on her left, and one on her right. For a panicked second or two, she thought Paige and his thugs had decided to make her wish come true and they were going to shove her into her locker.

It wasn't Paige or any of his companions.

It was Xander Harris and Jesse McNally.

"Hey there, Willow," Xander greeted from her left with his usual charm. "How is my number one, all-time favorite study buddy?"

"Don't listen to him, Will," Jesse replied from her right. "You're my favorite study buddy."

"Will, Jesse fell and cracked his head open. He's very delusional, as we all know. He's not himself. Just listen to him." He smiled at her. "I'm truly your biggest fan."

Willow looked from Jesse to Xander, and then she closed her locker in a most unlike-Willow way. She hadn't intended to, but when she closed her locker, she slammed it shut. Having surprised even herself, she jumped. Xander and Jesse glanced at each other with concern.

"Whoa, Supergirl," Xander said as he and Jesse fell into step on either side of Willow. "Principal Flutie will have you on a year's worth of probation for locker abuse if you keep that up."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Quit calling me that, Xander. I'm not Supergirl." She sighed. "I'm just a girl, and-and there's nothing super about me."

"C'mon, Will!" Jesse put his arm around her shoulders encouragingly. "What are you talking about, girlfriend? Nothing super about you? There's plenty super about you!"

"Jesse's right," Xander agreed. "This kind of talk coming from you is just crazy talk. Where's it coming from? Did something happen between now and when I last saw you being happy?"

"Uh, well," Willow let out a sigh. "There's this phrase that fits me really well right now."

"What phrase is that?"

" _'Your Mom dresses you funny.'_ "

Xander and Jesse looked at one another. Then, they looked at Willow.

"There's nothing wrong with the way your Mom dresses you," Xander told her, attempting to offer her reassurances.

Willow gave him a look.

"I meant that to be encouraging, Will. Not that your Mom actually dresses you." He paused. "Your Mom doesn't dress you, does she?"

Xander, do you need a shovel for that hole you're digging for yourself?" Willow asked, frowning at him. "Let me know when you're done so I can push you in."

"It's not that bad," Jesse tried to assure her. "You look...nice."

"I-I look like a little catholic school girl, and there's nothing Jewish about that, you know!" Willow complained. "I-I look like I'm wearing a uniform and-and that maybe I'm in the wrong school. I look like anything but a 'guy magnet'. At least according to Queen C!"

"Cordelia doesn't--" Xander began.

Willow interrupted him. She was on a roll. "A-and on top of that, I can't even sit where I've been sitting since school began in History class! And-and that bully Paige took a strand of my hair! Why would he do that anyway? I-is he some kind of-of sick, twisted pervert or-or something? Does he have pictures of naked girls on his wall or-or something?"

Xander and Jesse glanced at each other.

"What does he want with my hair anyway?" Willow wanted to know. "Why couldn't he just take a strand of Diana William's hair? She would have let him!"

Xander waved his hands at her. "Wait a minute, Will. Slow down. Tap the brakes a bit and back up for a sec, would you?"

Willow looked at him. "What?"

"You said 'pervert', Will. That's a pretty big word for you."

She frowned sheepishly. "I'm-I'm sorry. It slipped out."

"What did Paige do to your hair?" Jesse asked.

Xander nodded once. "Yeah. And are we talking Virgil Paige or is there another Paige that crawled out from the sewers?"

Willow stopped walking and they stopped with her. She looked at them and hesitated. "Uh, i-it's nothing, guys. Forget I said anything. I-I was just having a, you know, moment."

"Willow," Xander pressed, "what did Virgil Scumbag Paige do to your hair?"

Willow looked from Jesse to Xander and she knew by the determined looks on their faces they were not going to leave her alone until she told them what they wanted to know. "Uh," she began, "well, he-he ran his hand through my hair, and-and he took a strand."

Xander glanced at Jesse. "Did he pull your hair?"

"Uh, well, no..."

"So he didn't hurt you?"

Willow frowned, but she shook her head. "No, Xander. He didn't hurt me. B-but it's not like he's my boy friend or anything. You just don't run your hand through a girl's hair just 'cause you want to. A girl still has rules, and he crossed the line, he did!"

"So, you're saying that all he did was run his hand through your hair. Like this?" Xander began to run his fingers through her hair.

She couldn't help it. She closed her eyes and a smile of contentment touched her lips. "Yeah...like that."

Jesse grinned at Xander as he ran his hand through Willow's hair from the other side.

"That-that feels good," Willow said dreamily. Then, she opened her eyes and tried to compose herself. "Uh, okay. Stop that or-or you'll mess up my hair." Her face was flushed. "Anyway, I-I kinda like it when you guys do that, uh, but not Virgil Paige."

Xander gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Ah! Think nothing of it, Will. Maybe he has a hair collection at home."

"Ewwww. That's weird." Willow regarded him. "You-you don't think I should worry?"

"Nah. Paige probably just wanted to wig you out, and you wigged. That's all it was." He shrugged his shoulders. "He accomplished what he wanted to do, Will. Don't let it bother you."

Jesse grinned. "Paige is a complete jerk, Willow. He's all talk."

Willow looked at them and hesitated. "Oh, uh, okay. I-if you say so, then there's nothing to worry about. I-I guess."

"Of course, there's nothing to worry about." Xander grinned and he decided to change the subject. "So...have either of you talked to the new girl yet?"

Willow looked at Xander and frowned. "The new girl was hanging out with Cordelia Chase, Xander. She won't ever talk to you now."

"Yeah," Jesse agreed. "I saw her with Queen C and they looked kinda chummy."

Xander grinned. "Trust me, Jesse. When Buffy gets to know the real Cordelia Chase, they won't be so chummy."

Willow and Jesse both looked at Xander in surprise and simultaneously, they said, "Buffy?" They looked at each other.

With a touch of jealousy, Willow asked, "Y-you're on a first name basis with her?" She felt like her heart had just been torn in two.

"How did you get her name, man?" Jesse demanded. "You holding out on me?"

"She told me her name," Xander replied proudly, grinning happily. "I ran into her earlier and we talked. We exchanged words. We...we bonded. It was really nice."

"And lame."

Xander looked at him.

Willow frowned. She didn't like the idea of Xander wanting to focus his attention on another girl. Without thinking, she replied sarcastically, "Oh, that's nice, Xander! Did you run your fingers through her hair, too?"

Jesse looked at her curiously.

The sarcasm, however, passed right over Xander's head. "Buffy and I are not at that particular stage of our relationship, Will, but give us time. Eventually, we'll even begin at other stages that include...other things." He smiled knowingly.

Jesse snorted. "Dream on, pal." He smiled and cocked his head. "Wait 'til old Jesse here turns on the old Jesse charm. Then, she'll forget that you even exist."

Xander grinned and reached around Willow to pat him on the back. "Yeah, Jesse. Sure. That'll work."

"Hey! I have a killer charm!"

"Yeah, sure you do. Will and I have both been slain by it, too. Haven't we, Will?"

They headed for their next class as they started walking again.

"Xander, man," Jesse said, shaking his head, "if you've been slain by my charm, it only means that you got in the way. Any other explanation just scares the hell out of me."

Willow blushed upon hearing Jesse swear, but then she couldn't help it. She laughed as she pictured in her mind Jess and Xander charming each other. Xander and Jesse just looked at her.


	7. The New Girl

Paige strode purposefully down the hall with Randall on his left and Talbot on his right. The strand of hair he had extracted from Willow was still wrapped around his fingers and he was thinking about the girl’s future as he headed for his locker.

He smiled thoughtfully.

Willow's future...

In his mind, there really wasn't much of a future for Willow if the Father had anything to say about it. The plan was in motion. Paige, his brothers, and his Initiates were in a position where they could watch Willow. They were also in a position to do more than just watch. They had to prepare her for the Father, and when the time was right, they would make their final move. Paige didn't know when that time would come, but the Father did.

Willow would meet her destiny.

Paige was confident the Brotherhood had accomplished what they had set out to do. They had shaken Willow up and had given her great cause for concern. However, there was still much to do. The Father had given him strict instructions not to harm Willow. It was one thing to frighten her, but to bring physical harm to her would only incur the Father's wrath. With that in mind, Paige had already decided he wouldn't do anything else to the girl until after the weekend.

The day progressed rapidly for Paige. He was in a good mood and was looking forward to his new status as an Elder. It was an honor and a privilege to rise through the Brotherhood from an Initiate to an Elder. It gave him the opportunity to work closely with the Father. He had trained hard to get where he was today and he was extremely proud to have reached his goal.

Now he had much responsibility as an Elder. He also had power.

He couldn’t understand why the Prodigal had turned his back on the Brotherhood, renouncing the sacred oath he had taken. It made Paige angry. No one ever left the Brotherhood and lived the next day; except for the Prodigal. The Father strictly forbade it.

It was approaching fourth period as Paige walked alone across the lawn to reach the other side of school where his next class was. That’s when he saw Willow sitting on a bench in front of a short wall. She was taking out her lunch. Paige noticed that she was alone.

A grin appeared on his face. This was an opportunity he simply couldn’t ignore. He changed his direction and slowly headed toward Willow. Suddenly, he stopped when he saw that someone else had approached Willow.

It was the new girl.

It was Buffy Summers.

What did she want with Willow? Paige wondered. He decided to hang back out of sight beside a tree and watch. Ever since he witnessed Buffy’s visions with the Father and Willow in the dream world, he had become curious about her. The Father believed that fate had chosen her for something great…but what?

Paige kept out of sight as he watched Buffy and Willow.

 _Buffy approached Willow. “Uh, hi!” she greeted the red-head cheerfully. “Willow, right?”_

 _Willow looked up in surprise. “Why?” she blurted out anxiously. She took a deep breath and looked at Buffy with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. “I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?”_

From his place of hiding, Paige grinned.

 _Buffy looked at Willow and smiled. “Why don’t we start with, ‘Hi, I’m Buffy’, and, uh, then let’s segue directly into me asking you for a favor.” She sat down next to Willow. “It doesn’t involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while.”_

 _Willow regarded Buffy suspiciously. “But aren’t you hanging out with Cordelia?”_

 _“I can’t do both?”_

 _Willow shook her head. “Not legally.”_

 _Buffy let out a sigh. “Look, I really wanna get by here. New school. And…Cordelia’s been really nice…to me…anyway, but, uhm, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up.”_

 _Willow’s face seemed to light up as she smiled. “Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?”_

 _Buffy blurted out, “Or not!”_

 _Willow looked at her, puzzled._

 _“Or we could meet some place quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins.”_

 _“Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it’s a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool.”_

 _Buffy looked at Willow thoughtfully. “He’s new?”_

 _Willow nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I’m not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies–“ She noticed the look on Buffy’s face. “–and am I the single dullest person alive?”_

 _“Not at all,” Buffy assured her._

 _“Hey!” exclaimed Jesse as he came around the wall to stand in front of Buffy and Willow._

 _Xander appeared behind them. “You guys busy?” he asked. “Are we interrupting? We’re interrupting.” He tossed his book bag to Jesse._

 _“Hey,” Buffy greeted them with a glance toward Willow._

 _Willow smiled and looked at Xander. “Hey!”_

 _Jesse gave Buffy a wave. “Hey, there.” He dropped Xander’s bag next to his own._

 _Willow smiled at Buffy. “Buffy, this is Jesse, and that’s Xander.” Then she remembered that Xander had already met Buffy earlier in the morning. She looked up at him, hoping Xander wouldn’t fall for the new girl._

 _Xander, however, was grinning like a fool in love. “Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there’s that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times. I’m quite moved.”_

 _Jesse looked at him as if he had just lost his mind. “Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?”_

 _Xander frowned. “No, it’s, uh, it’s not you.”_

 _“Well, it’s nice to meet you guys,” Buffy said. She looked at Willow for help. “I think.”_

 _Xander hopped over the wall and he retrieved his bag. He began to dig through it._

 _“Well, you know,” Jesse began with a shrug, “we wanted to welcome ya, make ya feel at home, unless you have a scary home…”_

 _Xander pulled out a wooden stake from his bag and held it toward Buffy. “And to return this.” He pointed the sharp end toward the ground. “The only thing I can think is that you’re building a really little fence.” He handed it to her._

 _Buffy took the stake from him. “Hah! No, uhm, a-a-actually it was for self-defense. Everyone has them in LA.” She shrugged. “Pepper spray is so passe’.”_

 _Xander smiled at her. “So what do you do for fun?” He sat down next to her. “What do you like? What do you look for in a man? Let’s hear it.”_

 _Buffy looked at him._

 _Jesse spoke up before she could respond to Xander’s barrage of questions. “If you have any dark, painful secrets you’d like us to publish?”_

 _“Gee,” Buffy said, looking from Jesse, to Xander, and to Willow, “everyone wants to know about me.” She looked concerned. “How keen.”_

 _Xander shrugged. “Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You’re pretty big news.”_

 _“I’m not,” Buffy protested. “Really.”_

Paige remained where he was, unnoticed by anyone. He saw Cordelia approaching the group and she looked troubled.

 _Cordelia stopped beside Jesse, and she looked at Buffy with concern. “Are these guys bothering you?” she asked._

 _“Uh…” Buffy shook her head. “No.”_

 _Willow was quick to come to Buffy’s defense as she looked at Cordelia and shook her head. “She’s not hanging out with us.”_

 _Jesse stood up and he tried the old charm. “Hey, Cordelia!”_

 _Cordelia put up her hand and she didn’t even look at him. “Oh, please!” To Buffy, she said, “I don’t mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won’t be meeting Coach Foster-the woman with the chest hair-because Gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker.”_

 _Buffy stared at her. “What?”_

 _“What are you talking about?” Willow asked._

 _Cordelia shrugged. “Some guy was stuffed in Aura’s locker.”_

 _“Dead?” Buffy pressed._

 _“Totally dead. Way dead.”_

 _“It’s not just a little dead then?” Xander inquired sarcastically._

 _Cordelia gave him the look. “Don’t you have an elsewhere to be?”_

 _Jesse moved closer to her. “Y’know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on…”_

 _Cordelia glared at him._

 _“How did he die?” Buffy asked._

 _“I don’t know.” She shrugged._

 _“Well, were there any marks?”_

 _She looked at her. “Morbid much? I didn’t ask!”_

 _Buffy suddenly looked troubled. “Uhm, I gotta book. I’ll see you guys later.” Before anyone could say anything, she got up and hurried away._

 _They all watched her leave._

 _“What’s her deal?” Cordelia asked no one in particular._

Paige had seen more than enough. He was more curious about the new girl than even before. He followed her at a distance. It wasn’t difficult to stay with her. Buffy’s mind was on other things and she never noticed she was being followed.

Paige maintained his distance and followed Buffy to the girls’ locker room, but he soon realized that Buffy was not going to be able to get inside. Principal Bob Flutie was just exiting through the locker room’s doors and he locked the door behind him. When he turned around, he discovered Buffy standing in front of him.

 _“Oh, Buffy!” Flutie exclaimed. “Uh, what do you want?”_

 _Buffy hesitated. “Uhm, is there a guy in there that’s dead?”_

 _He regarded her suspiciously. “Where did you hear that? Okay. Yes! But he’s not a student! Not currently.”_

 _“Do you know how he died?”_

 _“What?”_

 _“I mean–how could this have happened?”_

 _“Well, that’s for the police to determine when they get here. But this structure is safe,” he said, reassuring her, “we have inspections, and I think there’s no grounds for a lawsuit.”_

 _Buffy made a face. “Was there a lot of blood? Was there any blood?”_

 _Flutie looked at her. “I would think you wouldn’t want to involve yourself in this kind of thing.”_

 _“I don’t. Could I just take a peek?”_

 _“Unless you already are involved…”_

 _Buffy backed off. “Never mind.”_

 _Flutie let down his guard a little. “Buffy, I understand this is confusing. You’re probably feeling a lot right now. You should share those feelings.” Then, he added, “With someone else.”_

 _He walked away._

 _Buffy waited. Then she tried the door, only to find that it was locked. She looked around to make certain she was alone. She pulled the door open with a quick tug, splintering the lock. With one last look around, Buffy slipped inside._

Paige stepped out from hiding and he approached the door. He stepped into the girl’s locker room and he peeked around a row of lockers. He saw Buffy uncovering a body from a blanket that had been covering it. She appeared to be looking at the exposed neck area.

 _“Oh, great!” she said, under her breath._

She covered the body back up with the blanket, turned around, and started to leave. Suddenly, just before she got to the door, she stopped and turned her head, puzzled. She had the strangest feeling she wasn’t alone. She looked toward the lockers and listened.

Finally, she decided that it was just her imagination. She left the locker room.

Paige came around the corner of the lockers when she was gone. He satisfied himself that Buffy wasn’t returning, nor was there anyone else coming, and then he approached the body. He pulled back the blanket and looked at the body. It was a young man, and there were teeth marks on his neck.

Paige thought about the visions, the dreams he had witnessed with Willow and the Father. The Father had admitted to him that Buffy Summers did have a destiny to follow. Now he was beginning to understand exactly what that destiny was.

“I’ll be a son-of-a-bitch,” he said out loud, amazed. “The new girl is the Slayer.”

^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

Paige needed Talbot and Randall to keep others out of the men’s room. He needed to contact the Father, and the best time to do that was during class. There was less of a chance for someone to walk in on him.

Paige faced the mirror. Not many were aware of the power mirrors contained. There was great magic in mirrors. The Father understood mirrors well, and he had taught Paige of their usefulness as well. Mirrors could be used as doorways, or windows. All that was needed was a link to the other side.

Paige placed a gem on the sink in front of the mirror.

The surface of the mirror wavered. Paige’s reflection disappeared only to be replaced by the Father’s.

The Father regarded Paige with a knowing look. “I’ve been expecting you, my son.”

Paige stared at him. “You know!” His voice was full of wonder and amazement.

“In the girl’s dreams, I suspected.” The Father paused. “But you are correct. Now I know there can be no other explanation. Buffy Summers is the Vampire Slayer.” He smiled. “Heinrich would be pleased to have her.”

The Elder frowned in thought. “I don’t understand, Father. Why take Willow for the Ritual of Longevity if you can take the Slayer?”

“I had not realized the Slayer was here until I was in her dreams. I should have known, however, because Sunnydale sits upon the Hellmouth.” He paused. “As for Willow, she is the one, my son. You do not see it, but I do. You see her as a simple girl.” He smiled. “She is much more than simple. Do NOT make the mistake of underestimating her.”

Paige looked at the image of the Father in the mirror.

Then, there was a sudden commotion behind him. Someone was entering into the men’s room.

The Father looked at Paige. He had one more thing to say. “The Prodigal is returning to Sunnydale.”

Paige couldn’t contain his surprise. “What? Father, when?”

“Soon. He must come back to us, my son.” He nodded with determination. “He will come back to us.”

The Father’s image wavered.

Paige wanted to ask more, but the connection was gone. He saw in the mirror who had entered the men’s room, and he began to turn his head. “Hello, Har–“

A fist connected to his face.


	8. Diversion

Buffy Summers wanted answers and she wanted answers-NOW! At the moment, there was only one place where she could find those answers. She wanted to get them from the same guy who had tried to shove a book about vampires on her earlier that day. It was the same guy who just happened to be Sunnydale High’s new librarian.

Rupert Giles.

 _She knew right where to find him. She strode into the library, spotted her prey, and she moved in for the kill. “Okay? What’s the sitch?” She walked up the stairs toward him._

 _Giles turned from the bookcase and looked at her curiously. “Sorry?”_

 _She looked at him. “You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?”_

 _He nodded. “Yes.”_

 _“Well, it’s the weirdest thing! He’s got two little holes in his neck and all his blood’s been drained. Isn’t that bizarre? Aren’t you just going, ‘Ooooh…’?”_

 _Giles paused. “I was afraid of this.”_

 _Buffy pouted. “Well, I wasn’t! It’s my first day. I was afraid that I’d be behind in all the classes, that I wouldn’t make any friends, that I’d have last month’s hair! I didn’t think there would be vampires on campus! And…I don’t care.”_

 _“Then…why are you here?”_

 _Buffy hesitated. “To tell you that…I don’t care. Which I don’t, and…have now told you. So bye.” She turned around and headed toward the stairs._

 _Giles took a step forward. “Will he rise again?”_

 _She stopped and turned to face him. “Who?”_

 _“The boy.”_

 _“No. He’s just dead.”_

 _“Can you be sure?”_

 _She looked at him. “To make you a vampire, they have to suck your blood and then you have to suck their blood. It’s a whole big sucking thing. Mostly they’ll just take all your blood and then you just die–and why am I still talking to you?” She went down the stairs._

 _“You have no idea what’s going on, do you?” he asked her. “Do you think it’s coincidence, your coming here? That boy was just the beginning.”_

 _Buffy turned to face him again, exasperated. “Oh, why can’t you leave me alone?”_

 _Giles started down the stairs toward her. “Because you are the Slayer! ‘Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the’–“_

 _Buffy picked up the prophecy and said with him, “–‘the strength and skill to hunt the vampires’–“_

 _Giles stopped._

 _“–‘to stop the spread of their evil’,” Buffy continued, “blah, blah. I’ve heard it, okay?”_

 _“I don’t understand this attitude. You’ve accepted your duty, you’ve slain vampires before–“_

 _“Well, I have both been there and done that. And I am moving on.”_

 _Giles looked at her, excited. “What do you know about this town?” He stood in the doorway to his office searching for something._

 _Buffy watched him, frowning with curiosity. “It’s two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus.”_

 _He turned his head to look at her. “Dig a bit in the history of this place and you’ll find there’ve been a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. I believe this area is a center of mystical energy. Things gravitate toward it that you might not find elsewhere.”_

 _“Like vampires.”_

 _Buffy tried to move toward the exit, but Giles moved in front of her with a stack of books in his arm. He began to pile them one-by-one into her arms. “Like werewolves,” he told her. “Zombies. Succubi, incubi…Everything you ever dreaded under your bed and told yourself couldn’t be by the light of day.”_

 _Buffy looked at him as she balanced the books in her arms. “What, did you send away for the Time Life series?”_

 _“Uh, yes.”_

 _“Did you get the free phone?”_

 _“The calendar.”_

 _“Cool.” She sighed as she gave him back the books. “Okay, first of all, I’m a Vampire Slayer. And secondly, I’m retired. Hey, I know! Why don’t you kill them?”_

 _He frowned. “I’m a Watcher. I haven’t the skill.”_

 _“Oh, come on. Stake through the heart, a little sunlight–it’s like falling off a log.”_

 _Giles tried to tell her how it was supposed to work. “The Slayer slays. The Watcher–“_

 _“Watches?” Buffy asked helpfully._

 _“Yes.” Then he shook his head. “Er, no! He-he trains her, he prepares her–“_

 _Buffy glared at him. “Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? Losing all my friends? Having to spend all my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because it might ‘endanger’ them? Go ahead! Prepare me.”_

 _They looked at each other._

 _Buffy turned and walked away. She stormed out of the library. Giles set the books onto the table and he went after her. In the stacks, someone emerged from behind the bookshelves._

 _It was Xander._

 _On his face was a mixture of excitement, amusement, and disbelief. In his hand, he held a copy of Theories In Trig, which was momentarily forgotten. He summed up everything he had just heard with one word._

 _“What?!”_

Buffy Summers-a Vampire Slayer?

Rupert Giles, librarian extraordinaire-a Watcher?

Xander was still trying to grasp what he had heard, so he had to say it one more time, and with more feeling.

“WHAT?!”

There was no one around to respond to him. He tried to come up with some rational explanation for what he had witnessed. Maybe Buffy was rehearsing for some kind of school play-some weird school play about a Vampire Slayer-and the librarian was helping her, Xander reassured himself. Or maybe they had been aware that he was there and they simply played some kind of joke on him.

Yeah, he decided. That’s gotta be it, ‘cause everyone knows there are no such things as vampires, let alone Vampire Slayers. Though if there were vampires, then, yeah, it made sense that there should be a Vampire Slayer ‘cause the world would be a better place with one, right? And even if there were such things as vampires, what would they be doing in Sunnydale, of all places?

Xander found the book Willow had told him about. He had it in his hand and all he wanted to do was check it out and leave. Actually, that wasn’t exactly true. He hated math, and Theories In Trig didn’t offer him any form of excitement whatsoever. What did cause him excitement was a nice, quiet place alone with the new girl. Even if she was a dizzy blonde, he’d still enjoy getting himself dizzy with her. Anyone who thought they were a Slayer of vampires had to have some heavy issues, Xander thought to himself, but I am definitely willing to overlook that given the chance.

He came down the stairs slowly and approached the table where Giles had placed the stack of books he had been trying to shove onto Buffy. Looking through the books with curiosity, Xander soon discovered they were indeed books about vampires, demons, and incubi…What the hell was an incubi anyway? he wondered. He opened one of the books at random and immediately came to a provocative drawing of a naked female vampire preparing to bite a helpless victim under a trance.

“Ooh-chee-mama!” Xander exclaimed, taking in a deep breath. “I’m definitely checking out the wrong books! Willow’s right. Books are fundamental, and, hey, I’m as mental as the next guy, lookin’ for da fun!” He began to flip through the books pages. Searching for more graphic pictures.

There were plenty of pictures, he soon discovered, but some of them were horrific in nature. He didn’t like those pictures, but the nude pictures more than made up for it. There were quite a few of them.

He held the book before him, turned it upside down, and then he said in disbelief, “Yeouch! That does NOT look right.”

He was still looking through them when Rupert Giles returned. Xander looked at him and he saw that the librarian was in a foul mood.

“What-what are you doing there?” Giles demanded as he approached Xander.

Xander abruptly closed the book he was looking through and tried to look innocent. “Me?” he inquired innocently. “Oh, I’m just looking at…books! I’m an avid book reader. That’s me!” He nodded with enthusiasm. “Xander-Mr. Book Reader-Harris. I’m not only a member of the Sunnydale High Book Club, I’m also a…a reader of the Sunnydale High Book Club.”

Giles looked at him suspiciously. “That’s quite odd, I can assure you.”

Xander looked at him, puzzled. “Uh, what’s odd?”

“I have a current list of-of all participating book clubs with this library, and your name does not appear on any of those lists.”

Xander hesitated. “Oh. Right. Uh, that’s ‘cause I’m actually…a secret member.” He grinned nervously and shrugged his shoulders. “You won’t find my name on any list.” He held up the book about the Succubi. It had more nude pictures in it than the other books did. “In fact, this book is at the top of our Secret Book Club list, and I’d really like to check it out.”

Giles gave him a look.

Xander made a face and waved the book at him. “You-librarian. Me-student. Want book.” He grunted for effect.

Giles snatched the book from his hand and he gathered up the other books. “These-these books are not to leave the library.” He looked at Xander, and added, “Ever.” He carried the books through a doorway and reappeared behind the counter. As he put the books beneath the counter, he said, “Now I-I will be happy to help you locate another book that is more to-to your liking.”

Xander place Theories In Trig on top of the counter. “I’ve found the book I need, but I really do like those particular books.” He watched the librarian for a reaction. “You know, ‘cause of the nasty demons, and vampires…and how to slay them. These are always good to know and learn.”

Giles looked at him suspiciously. “Wh-what? Er, I mean…don’t be ridiculous. They-they’re only books on myths and legends. Nothing more than-than folklore, and nothing at all to concern yourself about.” He picked up Theories In Trig. “Ah, yes. I’ll-I’ll just check this out for you.” As he took out a ledger to write the book in, he said, “At least this book can be put to more productive use for you. However, I’m sorry to say that-that even though this book has a great deal of math illustrations, it does not have any graphic pictures for you to gawk at.”

Xander looked disappointed. “Ah, you just spoiled my day.” He shrugged, resigned to his fate. “Well, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Willow told me to get this book so she can be my study buddy. And since she is the expert on this, I need all the help I can get.” He regarded Giles with curiosity. “Don’t you use a computer to scan books in and out of the library? It is a new era in which we live.”

Giles frowned. “Er, computers are simply demons in boxes. I prefer the old-fashioned way, thank you.” He pushed the ledger toward Xander and handed him a pen. “Sign here, please.”

Xander signed.

Giles looked at the name the young boy had written. He looked at him. “Xander Harris? Is-is that short for Alexander?”

“It’s just Xander,” he replied. “Xander is me.”

Giles took the pen and he closed the ledger. “You…mentioned that Willow is helping you with your math. Would that be-be Willow Rosenberg?”

Xander nodded his head. “ _’There can be only one’_ ,” he said, quoting from the Highlander films.

The reference went right over Giles’ head and got lost. “Well, if anyone can help you at all, it-it most certainly would be Willow. She’s a-a very bright, intelligent girl.”

“Really?” Xander looked at him.

Giles nodded his head and smiled. “It’s nice to see someone so eager to learn.”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll be sure to let her know that she has a fan club which you are President of.” Then, he agreed, “But I guess that's Will for you. She does spend a lot of scary time in here with the books that live here.”

“Yes, she does. In fact, she has even, er, volunteered to help me sort through the new books which arrive every so often.”

“Oooh, that sounds like as much fun as having my teeth drilled during a trip to the dentist.”

Giles looked at him. “It-it does? Er, you actually like going to the dentist?”

Xander just looked at him.

“Oh. I see. Sarcasm, was it?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Giles nodded. “I see. If there’s nothing else I can help you with, then have a good day. Enjoy the book.”

“Gee, thanks.” Xander paused. “Oh, and keep on watching out for things that go bump in the night.”

Giles scowled at him.

Xander waved at him and left the library. He stepped into the hallway, convinced once again of the strangeness of library’s and their keepers, as Jesse walked down the hall toward him. He was excited about something.

“Jesse, my man! What’s up?” Xander asked.

Jesse stopped in front of him. “Paige just went into the men’s room. And can you believe this? He left two of his friends outside to keep others from going in.”

“Really? Did he bring a magazine in with him?” Xander paused in thought. “Hey, Jesse…can you create a diversion?”

Jesse grinned. “Sure. What’s the deal, man?”

“I’m gonna have a few words with Paige about what he did. I’m gonna show him that Willow’s hair–and Will herself for that matter–is off limits.”

“All right, Xander-Man!” Jesse exclaimed. “Are you gonna give him a swirley?”

“Yeah! That’s a plan.”

They headed for the men’s room, but they stopped at the corner to peer down the hall. Randall and Talbot were standing in front of the entrance as if they were royal guards. Someone both Xander and Jesse knew was trying desperately to gain entrance.

“Please!” Jonathan Levenson pleaded to the two bigger boys. “I-I really need to get in there.”

“Go elsewhere,” Randall told him.

Talbot aimed a thumb at the door. “’Cause if you go in there, you ain’t coming back out.”

Jonathan looked from one to the other. Then he hurried away down the hall.

Xander turned to Jesse. “Okay, my man! Do your thing.”

Jesse grinned mischievously and rubbed his hands together. “This is gonna be fun.”

Jesse stepped out into the hall. He walked over to the water fountain and drank from it. Casually, he filled his mouth with water and stepped back from the fountain. He put his hands to his throat as if he were choking and stumbled toward Talbot and Randall, who were both watching him with morbid curiosity.

Jesse looked at them pleadingly, his eyes wide as he grasped his throat with both hands.

“Hey, man,” Randall said as he put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “Are you choking?”

Talbot also leaned forward.

Jesse chose that moment to spit out his mouthful of water. The water sprayed both Talbot and Randall full in their faces.

“I CAN BREATHE!” Jesse exclaimed in mock relief.

He grinned at them and then he ran like hell. Talbot and Randall decided they didn’t appreciate what Jesse had just done, so they chased after him.

Xander grinned, shook his head in wonder, and chuckled. He came around the corner, and walked into the men’s room. Paige was standing at the sinks as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Xander had the sudden impression that the big, bad bully was talking to himself in the mirror, but that didn’t concern him at all. Maybe Paige had to talk to his image to gather courage so he could push other kids around.

Xander approached him and Paige began to turn his head.

“Hello, Har–“ Paige began.

Xander interrupted him by bringing his fist into Paige’s face. The bully stumbled back against the sinks and then he looked at Xander in surprise.

“What--?” Paige tried again.

However, Xander interrupted him a second time by grabbing a hold of his shirt and slamming him hard against the mirror over the sinks.

“What the hell is your problem, Harris?” Paige demanded, but he made no move to defend himself.

Xander glared at him. “Gee, you really think I have a problem?” He seemed to think about it. “Well, the truth is, Paige, I don’t have a problem. Willow does though, doesn’t she? And her problem is YOU. So if you think you need a problem, then let’s do it this way. You’re Willow’s problem, so that makes me your problem.”

Paige managed to look puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.” He slammed him against the mirror for good measure. “Leave Willow alone!”

“You’re out of your friggin’ tree, Harris!” Paige glared at him. “No one’s picking on your girl friend.”

Xander ignored the sarcasm. “Why did you take a strand of her hair?”

Paige regarded him with genuine anger. He was very angry with Willow for telling Xander about that, and now a lesson had to be made. “Hey,” he said as he shoved Xander away from him, “just back off!”

“If you touch Willow again, I’m coming after you!” Xander exclaimed as he thrust an accusing finger into Paige’s face.

Paige opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a voice from the entrance of the men’s room.

“What is going on here? Are you boys fighting?”

Xander and Paige turned their heads and they were surprised to see Principal Flutie standing there with his hands on his hips regarding them with a solemn expression on his face.

“You boys aren’t fighting, are you?” he asked them. “Because we all know that fighting is an activity not allowed on school grounds unless, of course, you’re on the wrestling team. However, even if you were on the wrestling team, I don’t see a wrestling mat any where in this men’s room, do you? So tell me honestly…were you fighting?”

“Fighting?” Xander asked innocently. He grinned widely and clapped Paige on the back hard. “Fighting! Oh, no. There’s no fighting here. We’re just…hanging out ‘cause we’re…we’re pals!” He clapped Paige on the back again, a little harder.

Paige glared at him. “Yeah. That’s right, Mr. Flutie. We’re just two pals, hanging out.”

Principal Flutie nodded his head thoughtfully, but he wasn’t convinced. “Just two pals?” he inquired. “Hanging out in the men’s room?” He regarded them. Then, he said, “I do recall, gentlemen, hearing a bell ring which-if I’m not mistaken-means that you should both be in a classroom somewhere instead of ‘hanging out’ in the men’s room. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we all know how right I am in this matter.” He paused. “Am I right?”

Xander and Paige glanced at each other. They both nodded.

“You’re right,” Paige said respectfully.

Xander shrugged sheepishly. “Absolutely. Gee…” He looked at his wrist as if he meant to look at a watch, which he didn’t have. “The time just slipped past us.”

“We should head to class now.”

Flutie shrugged. “That’s a fine idea, Virgil. Don’t let me stop you boys from doing what’s right.”

Paige and Xander looked at one another.

Paige forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. “What we were discussing here…we’re not finished.”

Xander returned the grimace. “Right back at’cha!”

Paige glared at him. Then he casually walked around Principal Flutie and headed out the door. Xander intended to follow, but he was surprised when Flutie stepped into his path.

The Principal held up a hand. “Hold on there for just a moment, Alexander. I would really like a word with you if I could.”

Xander hesitated. Then he shrugged. “Okay. Sure.”

“Now I happen to know that most kids in this school think I’m a bit naïve. They think I don’t know what’s going on. But, Alex, I’m here to tell you that I do know what’s going on.” He nodded knowingly. “I really do.”

Xander looked at him curiously. “Uh, what’s going on?”

“I know a bully when I see one, Alex,” Flutie began, “and I run a crusade against bullies. Did you know that when I was your age, I, too, was bullied? So you see, I take a lot of interest when I see a bully in my school. Oh, no, I couldn’t defend myself against the bullies of my day, but I can do something about it now. Especially when I saw with my own two eyes a bully right here in this very room.”

Xander let out a nervous chuckle as he shook his head. “Oh, no…you think I was bullying Paige? Uh, but really–“

“I know what I saw, Alex,” Flutie interrupted, “and even though I do not approve of violence in any form whatsoever, I find it to be an act of nobility not common in kids these days.”

Xander looked at him, puzzled. “Uh, huh, what? Nobility?”

“I heard what you said to Virgil when I walked in here.”

“You…did?”

“Yes, I did. And I want you to know that I’m on your side. If Virgil Paige is bullying Willow, I want you to tell me.” He watched Xander and waited.

Xander hesitated. “Well, uh, Mr. Flutie, I, uh, can’t really say that Paige is bullying Willow or not. I haven’t actually seen him do anything to Willow.” And if I did, he thought to himself, I wouldn’t tell you. I’d handle it myself.

Flutie regarded him for a moment. “First of all, Alex, let me confirm something here. We are talking about Willow Rosenberg, right? I do know this school has only one girl who goes by the name of Willow, but I just want to be clear on this.”

Xander nodded reluctantly. “There’s only one Willow I know.”

“Secondly, Alex, don’t play the hero. You might think you’ve gained the upper hand with Virgil, but he does have friends, you know.” He paused. “I want you to talk to Willow and then I want you to convince her to come to me. If she is being bullied, I can help.” He shrugged. “That is, after all, why I’m here.”

Xander looked at him. “Okay. Uh, I’ll talk to Willow.”

“Good. That’s all I ask. Now you should run off to class.”

“Thanks. Sounds like fun.” Xander headed for the door.

Flutie called after him. “I don’t mean for you to actually ‘run’, Alex. Remember, there is to be no running through the halls of Sunnydale High.”

Xander stepped out of the men’s room and he walked to class. He wasn’t in any hurry to get there anyway. Yet, as he walked, he began to wonder if Willow really was being bullied by Virgil Paige. One way or the other, he was bound and determined to find out. At least he could take comfort that Willow wasn’t being bullied by vampires. Yeah, bullies that go bump in the night. He chuckled on his way to class.


	9. Warning

Jesse ran through the halls. He was glad that classes were in session at the moment, otherwise there would have been a whole lot of shoving going on. He was fast on his feet, but he heard Talbot and Randall close behind him. They were apparently fast on their feet, too.

Jesse tried to lose them. He raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and continued down a corridor. At the end of the corridor, he took the stairs, going down three steps at a time and once, he came dangerously close to stumbling down the rest of the way. However, he managed to make it down the stairs in one piece, turned the corner, and ran straight into a wall. He fell to the floor. As he tried to regain his composure, he managed to look up and that was when he realized he hadn’t really run into a wall. Not unless that wall was an actual person with a name.

He had run into Marc “Fury” Shiva.

Shiva glared down at Jesse and was about to say something when he heard a commotion coming down the stairs. As Jesse got to his feet, Talbot and Randall rounded the corner. Shiva suddenly grabbed Jesse by the collar, spun him around, and slammed him up against the lockers.

“You’re dead meat!” Shiva growled.

Talbot and Randall stopped and they looked at each other. “Fury,” Talbot began, taking a breath, “thanks for catching him for us.”

Randall glared at Jesse, but he was talking to Shiva. “Yeah. We’ll take him from here. We’ll take him out behind the friggin’ Wall.”

The Wall was an area located behind the school where the dopers, the skippers, and the bad kids hung out. It was a place to go if someone wanted trouble. It was also a good place to get a beating. Every once in a while, the Sunnydale PD would make a visit to the Wall and send everyone running. After all, they had to make an appearance every now and then. However, after their visit, it was back to normal for the kids who hung out at the Wall.

Shiva glared at Talbot and Randall. “This asshole just tried to knock me down!” he exclaimed angrily. “He’s mine!”

Randall looked at Shiva. “You’re just an Initiate, brother. You’re not–“

Talbot interrupted as he clapped Randall on the shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re not going to get in your way, Fury. Just give him a pounding for us.”

Randall glanced at Talbot.

“Yeah, I’ll pound the shit out of him, all right,” Shiva assured the Brother.

Talbot and Randall walked away.

Shiva watched them go. Then, he took a hold of Jesse and literally dragged him down the hall. As luck would have it, there was an empty classroom and Shiva shoved him into it. He closed the door behind him.

Jesse was no fool. He knew there was no way he could ever hope to take on Marc Shiva. The guy was huge, and it was all muscle. If Jesse didn’t find a way out of this mess, he was going to be in some serious pain.

“Look,” Jesse began hesitantly as Shiva approached him menacingly, “y’know…my man!” He pointed at him. “Hey, y’know, that was an accident out there with what, y’know, just happened.”

Shiva looked at him.

“C’mon, man. Y’know, I really don’t have any problem with you. At all!”

Shiva raised his hand, made a fist, and showed the tattoo on the back of his hand. “Do you see this?”

“Well, uh…” Jesse looked at him suspiciously, “sure, I see it. Uh, y’know, nice tattoo.”

“I’m warning you. You should watch out for anyone who wears this tattoo.”

Jesse looked at him. “Well, uh, thanks for the warning, man, but, uh, you have that tattoo.”

Shiva nodded grimly. “Yeah. I know.”

Silence descended upon the room. Shiva just stood there, looking thoughtful.

Jesse paused. “Look, are we, y’know, done here? Or are you going to, uh, kick my ass or something?” He held up his hands. “Not that I want you to,” he added hastily.

Shiva frowned. “You’re a friend of Willow’s, aren’t you? I’ve…I’ve seen you with her a few times. You and Harris.”

“Well, uh, yeah. Sure. Willow’s a friend.” Jesse frowned at him. “What’s that to you?”

Shiva hesitated. He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “She’s…she’s in a lot of trouble, man.”

Jesse snorted. “What?” He shook his head. “No way. Willow Rosenberg? In trouble?” He laughed. “C’mon, man, do you know Willow? At all? ‘Cause you don’t know what you’re talking about. What kind of trouble could Willow possibly get herself into?”

“She has been chosen by the Brotherhood.”

“The what?”

“The Brotherhood.”

Jesse frowned. “Well, uh, what’s the Brotherhood? Is that like some kind of gang or something? And you all wear those tattoos?”

Shiva nodded. “Yeah. Only it’s not really a gang. It’s more like a…a cult, I guess. Or an Order. A Coven. Something like that.”

Jesse looked at him dubiously. “Yeah. Whatever. What’s this got to do with Willow?”

“I don’t know everything yet ‘cause I’m only an Initiate, but I heard some things…and I can damn well figure out the rest. I know the Brotherhood want her for something.” He looked at Jesse. “Something bad.”

Jesse held up his hands and shook his head. “Whoa there, big fella. Slow down. Nobody wants Willow for something bad, not if I can help it.” He was getting all worked up. “Now what the hell are you saying? What do they want her for?”

“Look, I’ve told you all I can.”

“You’ve told me some kind of Nightmare on Elm Street bit, but I don’t know what you’ve been smoking.”

“Just watch out for Willow. Someone has to know that she’s in danger. Man, if you ignore this, it’s on your hands.”

Jesse looked at him. “What--?”

Shiva abruptly spun around and headed out of the classroom.

Jesse headed out and followed after him. “Hey!” he called. “If somebody is threatening Willow, I want to know who--“

“I’ve told you everything I can,” Shiva growled without turning around. “Get away from me.”

“I think you--“

Shiva interrupted him by slamming him against the lockers. “BACK OFF!”

Jesse held up his hands. “All right, man! Y’know? I-I’m backing off.”

Shiva let him go and walked away. Jesse watched him go as he wondered what that was all about. He wasn’t certain Shiva was serious about Willow. Was the big guy playing some kind of game? Or was there really a gang called the Brotherhood and were they really harassing Willow?

Jesse tended to believe that Shiva was messing with him. However, he did seem sincere. Jesse decided that he was going to have a little talk with Willow to see if anyone had been giving her a hard time. He suddenly remembered Xander was at that moment confronting Virgil Paige about taking a strand of hair from Willow. The more he thought about it, the more he found Shiva’s warning to be reliable.

He began to make his way toward the library. When he arrived at the men’s room where he had left his friend, both Paige and Xander were gone. He made a mental promise to catch up with Xander later and headed for class. He was going to be late, but it was a Study Hall so he wasn’t too concerned about it. If it had been Chemistry, or History, or Math, then it would have been well worth it to be late.

When the bell rang at the end of the period, Jesse left the Study Hall with intentions of looking for Xander and Willow, or at least one or the other. But as he headed down the hall, he saw Cordelia Chase at her locker. God, he thought to himself, Cordelia is so freakin’ hot! He grinned as he made his way over to her.

“Hey! Cordelia!” he greeted happily.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Oh, great! Now I’m having nightmares during the day, AND while I’m fully awake! Would it be too much to ask for you to go away? Far away?”

Jesse chuckled nervously. “Hey! Y’know, that was, uh, pretty funny. Y’know, you’re, uh, you’re real witty.”

“And you’re real, like, ‘Duh’. That wasn’t me being ‘witty’, lamebrain. That was me being insulting.” She glared at him as she closed her locker. “God! Can’t you take a hint?”

“Well, uh, y’know, uh, I thought that, y’know, if you were going to the Bronze tonight, maybe, y’know…” he shrugged, “…I could, uh, see you there.”

Cordelia gave him the look. “Okay. So, ‘y’know’, you can’t take a hint. How about this one? Tonight at the Bronze, I will be seen by many, and you will be seen by, well, a mere few who are less fortunate like you are. But guess what?” She smiled sweetly. “We will NOT be seen tonight at the Bronze…together!”

She abruptly turned and walked away.

Jesse, aware that some kids were looking at him, simply grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, yeah,” he said to no one in particular. “She really digs me.”

For the rest of the day, Cordelia Chase was all he thought about. He completely forgot about the warning he had received from Shiva concerning Willow and the Brotherhood.

^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

Paige was furious.

When he caught up with Randall and Talbot, he confronted them. “I can handle a loser like Harris on any given day,” he told them in a voice of complete calm, “so the issue here has nothing to do with whether I can take him or not. The issue is that I had no warning. Harris came in without being stopped and he could have seen the Father. That is the issue.”

Talbot and Randall looked at each other nervously. They knew they had let the Elder down.

“Did he see the Father?” Talbot asked.

Paige shook his head. “No. He didn’t…but that’s not the point, is it?”

Again, the Brothers cast guilty glances at one another. Then they both bowed their heads in shame.

“We’ve failed you,” Talbot said as he got onto his knees.

Randall also got down onto his knees with his head bowed. “We await punishment, Elder.”

Paige glared at them with disgust on his face. “And punishment is what you should get, but there’s no time.” He let out a sigh. “You’ll make amends for leaving your posts. Now get on your feet before someone sees you!”

Talbot and Randall immediately got to their feet. They were standing outside the school upon the lawn and if they had been seen on their knees, their actions would appear to seem quite odd.

“How can we make amends, Elder?” Talbot asked eagerly. “What must we do to earn your forgiveness?”

“You can begin by apologizing.”

The Brothers began to apologize at the same time. Paige let them ramble on for a while. What he was able to gather from their babbling, however, was enough to make it clear to him what had happened. Xander’s friend, Jesse, had deliberately lured them away.

Paige nodded. “Enough.”

Talbot and Randall both stopped apologizing simultaneously.

“There will be no punishment for this.” Paige shook his head. “The blame for this does not fall on you, even though you should not have chased after McNally.”

The Brothers were relieved.

“Then…you blame McNally?” Randall asked. “We can find him and–-“

“No. McNally is not to blame either.” Paige looked at them. “And, as much as I’d like to, I can’t really blame Harris either.”

“But, Elder, if not McNally or Harris…then who?”

Paige turned to Randall. “Rosenberg.”

Randall frowned. “Willow?”

Talbot frowned. “But we can’t touch Willow. The Father strictly forbid it. He said we can harass her but--“

“I know what he said,” Paige interrupted. “We can’t touch her…but we can touch her friends.” He paused in thought. “It’s time we teach the bitch a lesson. We’ll set an example for her so that she’ll think twice about it before she runs off to tell tales to her friends.”

“We’re going after Harris?”

Paige shook his head. “No.”

Randall regarded him. “Then, who?”

A malicious grin crossed Paige’s face. “We’re going after Joshua MacDonald.”


	10. Seizing The Moment

Willow made it home in one piece, but she realized that two more school days remained. At least she could find some small comfort that the next two days would be without Virgil Paige simply because he wasn't in any of her classes then. She didn't have History class on Friday, and she was extremely thankful for that!

She was highly disappointed about Buffy Summers. She should have known the new girl was only being nice to her for a reason. Willow shouldn't have been surprised when sixth period came and Buffy didn't show up to study with her. On any other day, Willow would have been glad to stay after school and spend hours in the library, but on this day, what was the point? She had been rejected by the new girl, bullied by Paige, and to top that off, Xander was getting all weird.

Willow had tried to talk to him after school, but he had brushed her off and said he had something important to do.

Well, la-de-da!

Willow went through her closet and found a dress with dots on it. She changed into it, grabbed her favorite red sweater, and told her parents she was going to the library to meet with Xander. They told her, "Uh huh, that's nice, dear," and then they reminded her that they were going away on Friday.

She nodded. "Uh huh, that's nice." She hurried out the door.

Willow had told a little fib. It was something she hated to do, but it was easy when she was really feeling down. She didn't intend to go to the library at all. Instead, she headed for the Bronze.

She really hoped Xander would be there. At least she knew he wouldn't be in the library. She wanted to ask him to help her shop for cool clothes during the weekend simply because she was tired of wearing dorky clothes. Xander was her best friend and if anyone could help her, he could. As Willow walked on toward the Bronze she was unaware of the shadow that trailed behind her.

The shadow had a form which he purposefully kept in the darkness. He was young-looking, but was actually older than he appeared. His name was Thomas. He wore a jacket with the sleeves rolled up and a red shirt with the collar showing. He was unaware that his style of clothing was outdated, but at the present, he wasn't concerned about his appearance.

He wanted a meal and he had his eyes on Willow Rosenberg as the main course. He followed her into the Bronze and watched her make her way to the snack bar. He slowly headed for her with determination until someone bumped into him.

Thomas intended to continue on his way until the "someone" who bumped into him grabbed his arm and spun him around.

"Get your damned hands off me!" Thomas exclaimed as he brushed the arm aside.

Bill Viccors glared at Willow's stalker. "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

The two regarded each other carefully. The vampire noticed the tattoo of the burning sun and Viccors recognized Thomas for what he was.

Thomas looked at Viccors. "You're with the Brotherhood."

Viccors nodded. "That's right. And you're a Fonzie impersonator, right?" He nodded his head toward Willow at the snack bar. "Are you following that girl?"

The "Fonz" hesitated. He narrowed his eyes. "What business is that of yours?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"That girl is off limits to your kind. She's not on the menu."

Thomas glared at Viccors. "Are you going to stop me?"

"You wouldn't want my Father to pay a visit to your Master about this, would you?"

Thomas considered his words. He took one last look in Willow's direction, then he shrugged and walked off in the opposite direction.

Viccors smirked as he watched him go. He then looked toward the entrance of the Bronze as he waited for his friends to arrive. That's when she showed up...

^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

...Buffy entered the Bronze for the first time as the band played loudly. Crowds of kids were dancing and moving their hands above their heads with the rhythm of the music. They were there to have a good time and forget about all of their troubles. As Buffy looked around, moving with the music, she decided she liked this place. It was nice. She was hoping to find someone she knew...as long as it wasn't Cordelia Chase.

She wondered if Willow ever came here. She was hoping to run into her so she could apologize for skipping out on her during sixth period.

She saw Bill Viccors across the room. She had met him in one of her classes and thought he would be someone she might want to get to know. He was, after all, a dreamboat.

 _He waved at her and smiled._

 _Buffy smiled and waved back._

 _Someone behind her, however, waved at Viccors. Buffy realized that Viccors hadn't actually been waving to her at all. She suddenly felt embarrassed. She stopped waving and tried to look inconspicuous._

 _She headed for the snack bar where she was surprised to find Willow. Willow was getting a soda. Buffy approached her and smiled, but she couldn't help thinking that this girl really needed help with her wardrobe._

 _"Hey," Buffy said._

 _Willow looked up in surprise. "Oh, hi." As Buffy sat down next to her, she said again, "Hi."_

 _Buffy hesitated as she regarded Willow. "Oh, you're here with someone?"_

 _Willow shook her head. "No. I'm just here." She smiled at her. "I thought Xander was going to show up."_

 _"Oh, are you guys going out?"_

 _Willow shook her head again and tried to look serious. "No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up."_

 _Buffy looked at her. "How come?"_

 _"H-he stole my Barbie."_

 _Buffy looked at her strangely._

 _Willow hesitated. "Oh, we were five."_

 _She nodded her head, not certain how to respond. "Oh."_

 _Willow was convinced she was making herself look like a complete idiot to Buffy. "I-I don't actually date a whole lot...lately." Once again, she tried very hard to look quite serious and even experienced in the matters of dating._

 _Buffy regarded her. "Why not?"_

 _"Well," Willow began, trying to think of something intelligent to say, "when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool or witty...or at all. I-I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."_

 _Buffy smiled reassuringly at her. "It's not that bad."_

 _She nodded. "No, i-it is. I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."_

 _Buffy looked at her knowingly. "You really haven't been dating lately," she observed._

 _Willow decided to drop the charade. "It's probably easy for you."_

 _"Yeah," she said sarcastically, "real easy."_

 _Willow missed the sarcasm. "I mean, you don't seem too shy."_

 _Buffy leaned forward and she thought that maybe all Willow needed was a few tips about dating. "Well, my philosophy..." She brushed a strand of hair from her face and looked at Willow questioningly. "Do you want to hear my philosophy?"_

 _Willow nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I do."_

 _"Life is short."_

 _"Life is short," Willow repeated thoughtfully._

 _Buffy shrugged. "Not original, I'll grant you, but it's true. You know, why waste time being all shy and worried about some guy and if he's going to laugh at you? Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead."_

 _Willow looked at her and smiled. "Oh, that's nice."_

 _Buffy happened to glance up at that moment and that's when she saw Rupert Giles, the librarian, up on the balcony above the dance floor. She frowned. "Uh, I'll be back in a minute." She got up to leave._

 _Willow shook her head. "Oh, th-that's okay. You don't have to come back."_

 _Buffy smiled reassuringly at her. "I'll be back in a minute."_

 _Willow watched her go. Then she sat at the counter and tried to gather her courage. "Seize the moment," she repeated to herself. She began to look around._

Suddenly, there was someone standing there who wasn't there a few seconds ago. Willow was startled and she put her hand to her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

The young man looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Willow looked at the boy and her breath caught in her throat. Was he talking to me? she wondered. Then she remembered Buffy's tip. Seize the moment. "Oh, no, uh, I'm-I'm not scared," she said quickly. "I mean, uh, I-I wasn't scared. You don't look scary."

The boy smiled. "Thanks. I do try not to scare away pretty girls. Especially someone as pretty as you are."

"R-really?"

"What's your name?" the boy asked her.

Willow hesitated as she tried desperately to recall her name. "Uh...oh! It-it's Willow."

He smiled. "That's a pretty name for a pretty girl."

She blushed. "Y-you said I'm pretty again." She looked at him shyly. "Uh, not that I-I want you to stop calling me, you know, uhm, pretty..." She realized she didn't know what to call him. "Oh, well, uh, what's your name?"

"You can call me Thomas."

"Thomas..." Willow looked at him and wondered how she was going to seize this moment. Courage, Willow, she thought to herself. What would Buffy do? Well, she would seize the moment, so Willow looked at him with determination and smiled. Here goes...she took a deep breath. "So, uh, Thomas...I-I don't see, well, uh, you know..." Come on, Willow, say it! "I-I don't see anyone here w-with you, or near you...uhm, or at all." She cleared her throat nervously. "Uh, are-are you here by yourself?"

He smiled at her. "Not any more."

"Oh." She looked disappointed as she tried to determine who it was that had just joined him. He was still standing beside her, however, and there was no one else. She looked at him questioningly.

Thomas drew a little closer. "I'm here with you."

"Oh."

He watched her.

Her eyes widened. "Oh! Uh, really?"

He took her hand. "I did come here alone, Willow, but now I'm with a pretty girl with a pretty name." He put his hand under her chin, tilted her head, and looked deeply into her eyes. He smiled.

Willow blushed, but she smiled back. "Oh...wow."

^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

 _Buffy leaned against the railing from the balcony above the dance floor. "I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire," she protested. "It's not like I have all these fluffy bunny feelings for them." She shrugged helplessly as Giles stood beside her. "I'm just not going to get extracurricular with it."_

 _Giles turned to look at her. "Will you be ready?" He let out a sigh of impatience. "There-there's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers." He waved his hand over the crowd below. "A vampire appears to be completely normal until the feed is upon them. Only then do they reveal their-their true demonic visage."_

 _Buffy gave him the look. "You're like a textbook with arms! I know this."_

 _He gave her a look of his own. "The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway. Without looking. With-without thinking." He paused. Then he turned to look at the crowd below. "Well, can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building?"_

 _She shrugged. "Maybe." She looked below, searching._

 _"You should know. Even through this mass and this-this din, you should be able to sense them."_

 _Buffy glanced at him._

 _"Well, try," he prompted her. "Reach out with your mind. You-you have to hone your senses, focus until the energy washes over you 'til you-you feel every particle of--"_

 _She suddenly pointed in triumph, interrupting Giles from his lesson. "There's one!"_

 _He looked down, searching. "Where?"_

 _She pointed. "Right there, talking to that girl."_

 _That girl was standing in shadow, but there was clearly a young boy talking to the girl with a drink in his hand._

 _Giles frowned. "You don't know--"_

 _"Oh, puhlease!" Buffy exclaimed. "Look at his jacket! He's got the sleeves rolled up. And the shirt? Deal with that outfit for a moment!"_

 _He peered down at the boy, squinting his eyes. Then he looked at Buffy. "It's dated?"_

 _"It's carbon-dated," she corrected him. "Trust me, only someone living underground for ten years would think that was still the look."_

 _Giles pointed below. "But you didn't...hone."_

 _Buffy looked below and she suddenly tensed. The girl in shadow had turned herself so that now her face was in the light. "Oh, no."_

 _Giles looked at her with concern. He turned his head, looked below and saw the girl. "Isn't that--?"_

 _"Willow," Buffy said, confirming his fear._

 _He was stunned. "What's she doing?"_

 _Buffy let out a sigh and mentally cursed herself. "Seizing the moment!"_

 _She turned and hurried to get below. By the time she got there, however, Willow and the carbon-dated vampire were nowhere to be seen._


	11. Breathe

Cordelia was at the Bronze with her friends and she was currently engaged in one of her favorite activities.

Talking.

She just loved to hear the sound of her own voice. Even more than that, she loved it when there were others around to listen to the sound of her voice. She knew when she spoke, her friends were hanging on every word she said. They had to be. If they weren’t, then they just weren’t really her friends.

 _“My mom doesn’t even get out of bed any more,” she said, adding hand motions into the conversation, “and the doctor says it’s Epstein-Barr. I’m like, ‘Please! It’s chronic hepatitis or at least chronic fatigue syndrome.’” She made a face and shook her head. “I mean, nobody cool has Epstein-Barr any more.”_

 _From behind her, Jesse made his approach with a bottle of water in his hand and a happy, goofy grin on his face. “Hey, Cordelia!”_

 _Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Oh, yay, it’s my stalker.”_

 _Jesse stood beside her and looked at her. “Hey, you-you look great.”_

 _She didn’t even turn her head to look at him. “Well, I’m glad we had this little chat.”_

 _Jesse cleared his throat and he did a little dance. “Listen, uh, you know, you want to dance, you know?”_

 _“With you?”_

 _He grinned. “Well, uh...yeah.”_

 _She favored him with a look. “Well, uh, no.” She abruptly turned to her friends and said, “Come on, guys.”_

 _Jesse watched Cordelia and her friends walk away and he tried to look like someone who didn’t just get a brush off. He tried to look nonchalant and cool._

 _“Fine,” he said out loud as he looked around. “Plenty other fish in the sea. Oh, yeah...I’m on the prowl. Witness me prowl.”_

He turned around and almost walked into a girl with blonde hair. She reached her hands out to him and grabbed his arms to keep herself from falling.

“Oh, man!” Jesse exclaimed, helping to steady her. “I am so sorry. You know, I have big feet and-and I’m a major klutz.”

The girl smiled at him.

Jesse looked at her and he couldn’t believe his eyes. She was pretty and her smile was for him...at least that’s how it seemed to him.

“That’s okay,” she said as she looked at him. “Really, I-I was going to see if you were still waiting for a nibble.”

He blinked at her. “A-a nibble?”

She nodded. “I heard what you said...about being on the prowl for the other fish in the sea.” She regarded him with a friendly smile. “Well, if you’re trying to hook a fish, Mr. Prowler, I’ll take the bait.”

Jesse couldn’t help it. He blinked again. “Really?”

“Really.”

He let out a nervous chuckle. “Oh, man, this is...this is great!” He looked at her closely. “So, you, uh...you want to, you know...dance with me?”

“Well, uh...yeah.”

“Well, uh...hey, you know...let’s dance.”

Darla took him by the hand and led him to the dance floor. As they headed through the crowds, Sylvia Landry passed them on her way to the snack bar. She intended to order root beers for herself and her boyfriend, Joshua MacDonald. Her glasses upon her face were taped together at the center and they made her look odd, but she didn’t care about that, and she didn’t care about what other people thought of her. All that mattered was what Joshua thought of her.

Joshua was across the room at a table close to the entrance of the Bronze...or the exit, depending on who was coming or going. As he waited for Sylvia to return with the root beers, he was surprised to see Willow being led to the door by a boy...a boy he had never seen before. Giving it a second look, he hadn’t seen Willow look so happy like she did right then. She looked in his direction and smiled. Before Joshua could even wave, Willow and the boy were out the door.

“Josh!”

Joshua quickly turned his head and found himself looking at Hal Levy. He was suddenly wary of trouble. He knew that Levy was one of Paige’s friends. He couldn’t help but notice, however, that Levy did not seem belligerent toward him.

“What is it?” Joshua asked suspiciously.

Levy appeared hesitant. “Man, I really don’t know how to tell you this, but...well, you know Rodney Willem, right?”

“Yeah...I know him. What about him?”

“Well...he just took your girl out back.”

Joshua took a deep breath. “What?”

“Look, he told me he was going to do it, and I tried to talk him out of it, but...” He trailed off and shrugged helplessly.

“Where out back?” Joshua got up from the table.

Levy frowned. “Well, I’ll show you. And, look, I’m really sorry about all this, you know? I mean, fun is fun, but I know when enough is enough.” He led Joshua toward the back of the Bronze and they went through a door.

Sylvia returned to the table with the root beers only to find that Joshua wasn’t there.

Joshua, in the meantime, had no sooner stepped into a darkened hallway when he was literally picked up from off the floor and slammed up against the wall. For him, the rest was a blur. His three assailants were mostly in shadow, and the only thing he knew for certain was that one of them was Levy.

The other two he could only guess at, but his guesses were accurate.

Rodney Willem, and Bill Viccors.

Willem was the one who had him up against the wall.

Suddenly, there was a sound down the hall. Viccors shushed them and told Joshua to be quiet or else. Viccors put his back against the wall, and he peered intently down the hall. Someone was down there...and when he saw who it was, he was surprised.

 _Buffy was standing next to a stack of chairs. With incredible ease, she grabbed the leg of one of the chairs and snapped it off like a twig. Then she held the broken piece in her hand as if she intended to use it as a weapon._

As if it were a stake, Viccors thought. “Holy shit,” he said to himself. He waved for the others to stay in the shadows.

Willem had his hand clamped over Joshua’s mouth, and because of it and the stress they were causing him, he was having a difficult time breathing. Joshua knew there was nothing he could do to escape. All three of his enemies were bigger and stronger than he was.

Viccors continued to watch Buffy.

 _Buffy slowly walked along the corridor. As she passed a door, it opened and someone came walking out. Within seconds, Buffy had spun around, grabbed the person by the throat, and slammed that person up against the wall. She raised her stake and held it poised to strike._

Viccors couldn’t believe his eyes.

 _Buffy held Cordelia against the wall and the girl’s feet weren’t even on the floor._

He watched Buffy in awe. He wondered what it was about her that gave her such strength. She didn’t seem to be having any trouble picking up Cordelia with one hand and holding her above the floor.

 _Buffy stared at her with her stake at the ready, but she suddenly realized who she had in her grasp. “Cordelia!” She immediately let her go, a guilty look on her face._

 _Cordelia glared at her as she tried to regain her own composure. “God!” she exclaimed. “What is your childhood trauma?!”_

 _Buffy looked behind Cordelia and noticed that she had her friends with her. She felt so embarrassed. “Have you guys seen Willow? Did she come by here?”_

Viccors frowned. Why the hell was Buffy looking for Willow?

 _“Why?” Cordelia demanded. “Did you need to attack her with a stick? Jeez!!”_

 _Buffy hesitated. She wanted to say something but she didn’t believe it would do any good. She frowned inwardly as she realized that she didn’t have time for this. She abruptly turned and left through a door that led back into the Bronze._

 _Cordelia looked at her friends and began to search through her purse. “Excuse me! I have to call everyone I have ever met right now.”_

Viccors frowned and wished that Cordelia and her friends would just take a hike.

“Bill,” Willem whispered urgently from behind.

Viccors turned his head. “What?”

Willem had leaned Joshua up against the wall. “He’s not breathing,” he whispered harshly.

Viccors looked at him. “What? Is he dead?”

“He’s not breathing!” Levy repeated nervously, and a little too loudly.

Viccors glanced back around the corner.

Cordelia was looking in their direction, but she couldn’t see him. “Hey! Is somebody down there?” She paused. “Willow, if that’s you, you have a psycho-woman with a pointy stick looking for you.”

Viccors turned to his two fellow Initiates. “Grab his inhaler,” he hissed. “C’mon! Let’s move!”

“What about—?” Levy began.

“Leave him!”

“All right!” Cordelia called as she began to walk down the corridor toward them. “I can hear you, you know! I’m not deaf. Who’s down here?”

Viccors, Willem, and Levy took off running before Cordelia could catch sight of them. They slipped out through a back door that led to an alley outside the Bronze. She came around a corner and discovered Joshua on the floor with his back against the wall.

“Cordelia...who is it?” one of her friends called out to her.

Cordelia didn’t answer. She knelt beside Joshua as a terrible feeling came over her. Even in the dim light, she just knew that something was horribly wrong.

“Oh, my God! He’s not breathing!” She looked at her cell phone. She quickly punched in 911 and pressed the SEND key. To the boy, she said, “Breathe, Joshua.” When someone answered the phone, she said, “Hello? 911? I’m at the Bronze in the back with a boy...but, wait! It’s not like that!” She looked at Joshua with concern. “He’s not breathing! At all!”

“How long has he been like this?” the woman on the other line inquired. “Does he have a pulse?”

“I-I just found him like this.” As she felt for a pulse, she said, “But I’m sure someone else was back here with him!” She paused. “I’m sure he has a pulse, but...it’s like kind of faint.”

“Help is on the way, but you have to breathe for him until they arrive.”

“Breathe for him? Huh?” Cordelia panicked. “Oh, my God! I have to touch him?” The thought of touching someone who was close to death was not an appealing thought. Besides, he didn’t even have on any cool clothes. “Ohhh, what...what...what do I have to do?”

“Tip his head back, pinch his nose, and with your mouth, form a tight seal over his mouth that you have opened by pushing down on his chin. Then give two quick breaths.”

“What? I mean...what do you mean by two quick breaths?”

“Blow into his mouth twice.”

She swallowed. “Uhm, just so you know...this doesn’t mean I’m kissing him.”

“Just do it!”

Cordelia followed the instructions as best as she could and when she went to blow two quick breaths into Joshua’s mouth, she closed her eyes tightly. When she was done, she made a face, said to herself, “Ewww...I need some mints or something.” She picked up her phone. “Hello? 911? You still there?”

The woman on the other end said, “Did you do it?”

“Uhm, yes...but please don’t tell anybody.”

“Now put your ear to his mouth to see if he’s breathing on his own, and check for a pulse by feeling the side of his neck just below his ear. Tell me what you hear and what you feel. Is he breathing on his own and does he have a pulse?”

Cordelia nodded. “Oh...okay.” She pressed her ear to Joshua’s mouth and listened for all she was worth. She sighed. She wasn’t hearing anything. “Breathe, Joshua...please...” She felt for a pulse. With resignation, she put her phone to her ear. “Uhm...he’s still not breathing on his own, but he does have a pulse. That’s good, right?”

“That’s good, but you have to breathe for him again.”

“I do?”

“Yes. Two quick breaths. Again. Now do it!”

Cordelia gathered up her nerve, and once more, pinched his nose, opened his mouth, and blew two long breaths...hoping for the best. What happened next was something that she wasn’t prepared for.

Joshua vomited.

Cordelia bolted into a sitting position and screamed. “Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ewwww! Yuck! Oh, my dress is ruined!”

The 911 operator was yelling something. Cordelia picked up the phone. “He just threw up on me! Are we done here?”

“Not quite. Now you have to do a finger sweep.”

“A finger sweep. What the hell is that?! That sounds like an awful thing to do!”

“I mean clean his mouth out with your finger so he doesn’t choke, and check for breathing.”

“You want me to put my finger in his mouth? Are you crazy?”

“Miss...do it!”

Cordelia took a deep breath. She put the phone down, grabbed Joshua by the jaw, opened his mouth...and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, turned her head, and put her finger in his mouth. “Ohhhh....myyyyy....God!” She managed to clean out his mouth and tried hard not to think about what Joshua could have possibly had to eat. When she was done, she slowly lowered her head. “Joshua...please don’t throw up again...” She put her ear to his mouth.

This time, she did hear his breathing.

“Oh, thank God!!” She heard the sounds of sirens coming closer as she picked up her phone. “Okay! He’s breathing...so we’re like done here...right?”

The woman on the phone said, “Turn him onto his side incase he throws up again.”

Cordelia sighed. She balanced her phone with her shoulder and ear as she began to move Joshua onto his side. “Hey...can 911 reimburse me for my dress? It’s ruined!”

There was no reply.

She sighed. “I didn’t think so.” She looked at Joshua and shook her head sadly. “Oh, why didn’t he just use his inhaler?”

“Does he have an inhaler? Is he asthmatic?”

Cordelia sighed. “Yes! His name is Joshua MacDonald and he does have asthma!”

“He may have an Eppi-pen. Look for it quickly and use it on him. Does he have a pouch of some kind?”

Cordelia didn’t see any pouch, but she felt along in his jacket and she found a tube. She pulled it out of his pocket, screwed up her face, and looked at it. “What’s an Eppi-pen?” she asked frantically into the phone. “You want me to write on him?”

“It’s a special needle that will give him a shot of adrenalin to keep him breathing,” replied the voice on the other line with as much patience as she could muster. “Take the cover off, press it against his thigh, and push down.”

Cordelia took the cover off and looked at Joshua. “Uhm, do I have to pull down his jeans? ‘Cause, I hear the ambulance coming. They’ll be in here any second! Can’t they do it?”

“No. You don’t need to pull down his jeans. Just do it.”

She gathered up her courage as she realized that her friends were behind her watching her. She hoped they hadn’t seen her blowing into his mouth. She took a deep breath and pressed the Eppi-pen against Joshua’s thigh. “There!” she said triumphantly. “I did it! All done now!”

Joshua’s eyes fluttered.

Cordelia clapped her hands together. “Yes! He’s alive! He’s breathing on his own and he’s not throwing up on me any more!”

“Good,” said the 911 operator. “That’s very good. Now just stay with him, keep him comfortable, and wait for help to arrive.” Yet even as the woman spoke, paramedics arrived. They wheeled in a stretcher and carried supplies. They took over from Cordelia as she rejoined her friends. She was so relieved that this nightmare was over, but now she had to go home and change.

As the paramedics were wheeling him out, Joshua reached up to grab Cordelia’s hand.

She looked at him in surprise.

He smiled wryly at her. “Thank you...” he said softly.

Cordelia didn’t know what to say, so she simply smiled and nodded her head at him. But as they were taking Joshua MacDonald out of the Bronze, it suddenly dawned on her.

Cordelia Chase had just helped to save a life.


	12. Study Buddy

It was said that most things in life did not just happen overnight. Getting through a whole school year did not happen with a snap of the fingers. Growing up was not something that just happened. However, for Willow Rosenberg, it did happen. Her entire world-everything she knew-abruptly crumbled to the ground all around her and she felt lost.

Thomas turned out to be a vampire, ‘cause did he really have any intentions to take her to get ice cream? No! He took her to the cemetery instead. Once there, Willow had become a captive inside a mausoleum with Jesse, whom had been given a very large hickey. Later, she soon realized that it wasn’t a hickey after all, but something worse. A vampire had bitten him. If it hadn’t have been for Xander and Buffy’s timely arrival, she would have probably been bitten, too.

Her mind was still trying to take it all in.

Willow had seen Buffy put a stake through Thomas...and then Thomas turned to dust right before her. She had seen it! One second, he was just standing behind Buffy, and the next...POOF! He was gone. How did that happen? Should Thomas have drank more water when he was alive? She didn’t understand.

Willow sat on the edge of her bed and her eyes stared at nothing. Xander watched her with growing concern. He was more afraid for her than he had ever been. Especially what they had been through on this terrible night.

Buffy closed the french doors to Willow’s bedroom behind her as she entered and she turned to face her new friends. At least potential new friends. She wouldn’t blame them if they avoided her like the plague after tonight. It broke her heart to see Willow like this. Buffy was just getting to know her, and now she was afraid that her secret life was once again going to destroy her social life. Just like it did at Emery. It made her angry, but mostly, it left her feeling sad and lonely.

“Guys,” Buffy began hesitantly, hoping they wouldn’t notice the catch in her voice, “I’m really sorry about this. I—“

“You’re sorry?” Xander stared at her as if she had just grown two heads. “Buffy, you just saved our lives out there. If not for you, those lumpy-faced Village of-the-damned People would be picking their deformed teeth with our bones.”

Buffy frowned at him. “Uhm...they’re not cannibals, Xander. They’re vampires.” She turned to regard the long, red-haired girl sitting on the bed. “Willow?”

Willow hesitated. She turned her head to look at Buffy, and there were a lot of emotions playing across her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She took a deep, shaky breath and tried again. “Buffy,” she said softly, “...what are you?”

Buffy swallowed. “I, uhm...Will, it’s really a long story.”

“Buffy...you...you killed those things. I-I saw it.”

Buffy saw the confusion in her eyes and she hated herself for it. She wanted to scream. She wanted to take this night away from Willow, but was powerless to do so. She couldn’t take it back. She turned her head so that Willow wouldn’t see the tear trickling down her cheek.

Xander didn’t see it either. He was completely focused on his best friend. “Will,” he said softly, taking a step toward her, “Buffy dusted them. Right now, I don’t really care what she is. All I know is that she saved us. She saved us both.”

Willow fell silent again. But when she spoke again, it was like a knife of accusation, even if she hadn’t meant it to be.

“She didn’t save Jesse,” Willow said hoarsely, turning away.

Buffy came so close to falling apart. She clenched her fists to keep her hands from shaking. Vampires were a part of her world whether she liked it or not. They didn’t have to be a part of Willow and Xander’s world...but unfortunately, it was too late. Vampire’s had entered into their world, and the first thing they did was take Jesse from it.

Xander knelt on the floor in front of Willow and he placed his hands over hers in her lap. He looked at her face. “Will...it’s okay. You’re home now. You’re safe.” At the moment, that was all he cared about.

Willow shook her head and looked into his eyes. “We’re not safe any more, Xander. Jesse’s gone.”

Xander glanced at Buffy. “Hey...c’mon, my study buddy. Look, I’ll find Jesse, but I have to know you’re—“

“No!” Willow exclaimed, looking at him with tears forming in her eyes. She grabbed a hold of his hands as if they would disappear forever if she let go. “You can’t leave! Please, Xander, I-I can’t be alone now. I-I need you!”

Xander looked at her in surprise. Then, he looked at Buffy.

Buffy nodded slowly. “She’s right, Xander. You can’t go after Jesse.”

“Jesse’s my friend,” he told her.

“So is Willow and she needs you here.”

Xander paused. “What about you?”

“I’ll go back to the library. I need to talk to Giles.”

He blinked. “The librarian?”

“Yes.”

Xander paused. “But he only watches, right?”

Buffy tilted her head and looked at him, puzzled. “Huh?”

“Never mind. Look, Buffy...maybe we should—“

“Please, Xander. Just stay with Willow. I’ll-I’ll see you both in the morning.” She tried to keep the tears back and she managed to succeed, but there was still a tremor in her voice. She felt responsible for Jesse, and now she couldn’t even look Willow in the eyes. “I am so sorry, Willow.”

Willow didn’t respond.

Buffy didn’t know what else to say. She really liked Willow, but after tonight, she was certain she had just lost her as a friend. She looked at Xander. “Uhm...you’d better lock the doors after I leave.”

Xander got up, glanced at Willow worriedly, and approached Buffy. “Are you going to be okay out there by your lonesome?”

She nodded. “I’ll be fine. You just...take care of your study buddy.”

He smiled wryly. “I will. Be careful.”

Buffy gave him a reassuring smile, and then she was out the door. Xander closed the french doors and locked them. He turned around and saw Willow watching him.

He was worried about her. He couldn’t deny there was a part of him that wanted to scream and go mad after what they had just witnessed. There was only one thing helping him hang onto his sanity, and that was the thought of keeping Willow safe.

“Willow,” he said softly, “are you okay?”

She wiped a tear from her eye. “No.”

“What can I do to help you?”

“I-I feel like I’m gonna fall a-a part, Xander...” She looked at him, tears flowing freely now. “Can-can you please ho-hold me together?”

Xander approached her, knelt before her, and held her to him. She placed her head on his shoulder and pressed her face against his neck. “Xa-Xander, what’s happening to our world?” she whispered fearfully.

He ran his hand through her hair. “Nothing’s happening to our world, Will. We still live in Sunnydale, and we still have each other.” He thought of the vampires they had seen in the cemetery. “We just have new neighbors, that’s all.”

“But-but we don’t have Jesse.”

“We’ll get him back.”

“How?”

Xander didn’t know how to answer.

Willow hesitated. “What-what if we don’t get him back?”

He shushed her, holding her tight. “Look, Will, I swear to you it’ll be alright. You’ve been through a lot tonight, but it’s over now.” He couldn’t get the image out of his mind of Willow in the crypt, supporting Jesse, while this girl with fangs advanced toward them. Buffy had turned Willow’s “date” into dust, then, he and Willow had grabbed a hold of Jesse, and they booked out of there as if there were no tomorrow.

Their escape had been futile. They had soon found themselves surrounded by vampires, and somehow, they had been split up. Later, Buffy had told Xander that she had chased off a vampire who had been seconds away from taking Willow’s life. They had ran out of the cemetery and didn’t stop running until they were at Willow’s house. Now Willow was no longer the same, and Xander was scared to death for her. She was trembling in his arms, and she couldn’t stop crying. He hoped this terrible experience wasn’t going to scar her emotionally for the rest of her life. Or him for that matter. He realized then that he needed her just as much as she needed him.

After a while, he got up from the floor, and she raised her head to look at him, afraid he was going to leave. He wanted to, if only to find Jesse, but he wasn’t about to leave her now when she needed him the most.

“Will,” he said gently, “you should...you should change for bed.” He cracked a smile. “Don’t worry. I promise not to peek.”

Willow nodded her head and she went through the motions while Xander stood at the french doors, peering out the windows. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was something out there right at that moment. Maybe even a different Jesse.

He closed his eyes and determined in his heart that he was NOT going to give up on Jesse. He had to hang onto some hope that Jesse was still alive.

“O-okay,” Willow said from behind him.

He turned around and saw that she had not only changed, but she was already under the covers. She was watching him and it hurt him to see the fear in her eyes.

“You-you’re not leaving, are you?” Willow asked him.

Xander shook his head. “No, Will. I’m not leaving you.” He sat on the bed, kicked off his shoes, and then he got beside Willow. He stayed above the covers.

“I-I think we should turn off the lights,” she said to him. “My mom will have a cow if she finds you in here with me.”

Xander let out a chuckle. “Now that would be a funny sight to see.” He began to picture it in his mind, and abruptly made a face. “Uh...on second thought, no...it wouldn’t.” He reached across Willow and turned off the light.

She looked up at him and wished he would just kiss her...at least once, but she knew that he wouldn’t. When he was on his back beside her, she put her arm around him and laid her head on his chest. She wanted to listen to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

She closed her eyes. “Thank you, Xander,” she said softly.

He put his arms around her. “For what?”

“For making me feel safe.”

“Hey, Will...you know me. You’re my best girl, and I can’t stand it to see you shaken up like that.” He paused. “Are you scared now?”

“Well...if-if I think about it, I-I feel scared.”

“Then, don’t think about it. Think about something else.”

“But...Xander, Jesse—“

“We’ll get Jesse back, Will. I promise.”

She paused. “You can’t make that promise, Xander. There’s nothing we can do to get him back. He’s gone.”

Xander frowned. “I don’t believe that.”

“Vampires got him, Xander. We-we’ve seen movies about them. Th-they’ll kill him and make him one of them.”

“Then, all we have to do is kill that bitch who turned him.” Xander was under the false impression, as was Willow, that real vampires were like the ones depicted of in films. “If we kill her before Jesse feeds, we’ll get him back. Besides, Buffy is a Vampire Slayer, and she knows what she is doing.”

Willow peeked up at him. “Buffy’s a-a what?”

“She’s a Slayer. A chosen one. ‘One girl in all the world’...” He paused as he tried to remember the rest of the quote he had overheard at the library. “Anyway, she slays vampires and Giles watches. He’s a Watcher. So don’t worry about a thing. Buffy and her Watcher are on the case.”

She paused in thought. “Wow. I-I wonder if that’s why she burned down her gym at her school in Emery.” She settled her head back onto his chest. “She was probably slaying vampires when that happened.”

Xander’s mood brightened. “Hey! Maybe she’ll burn down Sunnydale High. We could help her with that!” He gave Willow a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry about it any more, Will. It’ll just make you cranky in the morning. Just close your eyes and think about something nice.”

“I am,” she murmured.

He paused. “What are you thinking about?”

She smiled dreamily. “You.”

He smiled, too, although she couldn’t see his smile for her eyes were closed. “Thinking about me doesn’t scare you, Will?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “No. Thinking about you makes me feel tingly all over, and-and I also feel safe and happy ‘cause I’m thinking about you serving me ice cream all weekend long, and-and you’re also waving a big, leafy fan over me to keep me cool.”

Xander paused as he regarded her. “Are these G-rated thoughts you’re having about me?”

She didn’t answer.

“Will?”

“Oh, uhm...of course, they are, Xander. I mean, what kind of girl do you think I am anyway?”

Xander wondered about that. There was something else bothering him and now was the perfect time to bring it up. “Willow?”

“Uh huh?” She sounded so sleepy.

“Is Virgil Paige bullying you at school?”

Willow shook her head, but she kept her eyes closed.

Xander paused. “Are you sure? ‘Cause if he is, I won’t let him. Nobody messes with my Willow.”

“He-he’s all talk, Xander,” Willow said, yawning. “He...he barks...a lot...and he...he...”

Then, there was silence.

“Willow?” Xander inquired.

He listened to her and realized that she was asleep. He was amazed, but he was glad she could get some sleep. As for himself, he doubted he could get any sleep after what they’ve been through. He remained awake and he kept a vigilant watch throughout the night.

Meanwhile, in Willow’s jewel box upon her dresser, a red ruby began to glow brightly.


End file.
